The Letter to the Colossian Church- 4

Subtitle: The Work of Christ among Them

Colossians 1:21-29.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, August 3, 2025.

After he has presented a powerful picture of just who Jesus is (the Lord of Creation and the Lord of the New Creation), Paul now turns to Christ’s work among them in Colossae.

This great work, of a God who is capable of such great things, is the same One who is working in little you!  It is important for believers not to doubt that God’s greatness does not make us insignificant to Him.  It is quite the opposite.  As men become greater in their scope among others, their limited nature requires a level of leaving details to others who work for them.  God does delegate, but He doesn’t do so because He is limited.  Rather, He is in every minute detail of how our bodies are fearfully and wonderfully made, and how our spirits were made to glorify Hiim in these bodies and in this life.  Don’t doubt His working in you.

Let’s look at our passage.

The New Creation in Colossae (v. 21-23)

This New Creation is not something that is happening somewhere out there in the universe or on the earth far away.  It was happening right there in Colossae.

Jesus is also right here in Everett, Washington doing his work.  He is working in Abundant Life Christian Fellowship, the church we are at today.  He is working in your house, your life, and inside of you.

Of course, this could make us feel uncomfortable.  Yet, when we understand that our heavenly Father loves us more than we can imagine, so much that He sent His Son to pay the price for your sins, we can learn to rest in His work.  Yes, He will correct us and scrutinize us, but it will be done in love and with all the help that He supplies through the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, and other believers.

In verse 21, Paul describes their condition prior to Christ’s new creation within them.

They were alienated from God.  They had been made strangers to God, first by the rebellions of their forefathers, and second by their own thoughts and actions.  This is more than proximity.  It also has to do with our understanding of God.  We are clueless to who He is and what He is like.  We do not respond to Him like one who is in close relationship, but as one who does not know Him at all.

Not only were they alienated, they were also hostile in mind through evil deeds.  These are actually connected together, rather than seen as two separate things.  Actions begin in the heart and then process in the mind, until we do them.  Why are our minds hostile to God and His purposes?  We can blame it on  our culture, and there is a level of truth to this.  However, we all have a personal part in this rebellion, which is our own hostility towards God, acted out in sinful deeds.

What I mean is this.  You may grow up in a sinful culture that is hostile to God.  However, along the way, as that sin causes harm to you, you will question it.  You will see that something is wrong in the ways that you are being enculturated.  Yet, in many small ways, we choose paths that are not good, but sinful.  They are hostile to the way God would have you be.  It doesn’t matter that you may not know God’s ways because God is good.  Thus, we choose ways that are not good, showing that we are hostile to God even before knowing Him.  This hostility towards a God we do not know is revealed every time we justify our sinful actions to the people around us.

God knows the culture surrounding a person.  They are not His enemy because of that, but because of their own choices and actions.  This is how the Colossians were when the Gospel came to them.  The Gospel showed them that they had been far away from God and unknowing enemies against Him.  The Gospel teaches us to own up to our own sin.  We cannot repent for our fathers and mothers.  We cannot repent for our nation (or Republic, as the case may be).  But, God gives each one of us the opportunity to repent for ourself.

Christians are those who have quit hiding behind everyone else’s sin as an excuse.  We see this dynamic when we talk with someone who “doesn’t need Jesus and his religion.”  You can challenge them with this question.  “So, you are perfect and don’t need to repent of anything?”  They will often respond that it would be unfair for God to expect absolute perfection from them.  “No one is perfect!”

Yet, the underlying dynamics are not about what you think God should accept.  That is like a kid in front of a judge believing that the judge should not hold them accountable for anything they have done.  Such a delusion will not serve you well in the courtroom.  No, this is about who God is and what He is doing.

God won’t settle for imperfection.  Yet, He knows that you cannot be perfect in and of yourself.  Instead of lowering the bar, which would have Him forever dwelling with sinful beings and pretending that they are okay, He lowers Himself in such a way as to make us perfect.  The Gospel is the good news that God the Father has created a way for us to be made perfect so that we can dwell in His presence, His goodness, forever.  He is not willing that any should perish, but He will not force anyone to choose Him.

This brings us to their present condition in verse 22.  Their situation has changed.

Christ has reconciled them.  Their life was full of errors compared to the goodness of God.  They could not “fit in” with God’s purposes in their prior state.  Thus, through Jesus the Christ, God has brought them into a state of harmony, or peace, with God.

Notice that Paul emphasizes that this was done in Christ’s “fleshly body.”  There is an emphasis here that is intended to block, even to rebuke, the tendency within the Greek mindset.  They could not fathom the fullness of God dwelling in frail human flesh.  Of course, they believed Zeus could come down and bed a fair maiden.  But, the idea that a God could be killed, not just by a mortal, but as a mortal.

This is part of the source of many philosophers and teachers that continually tried to use Christian teachings as a vehicle for their own ideas.  They felt that they were making it better, but in truth, they were not.

Those who put their faith in Jesus have been reconciled to God by what he did in frail, weak, mortal flesh.  The humiliation of the devil is found in this irony.  Jesus defeated him not as an immortal, but as a weak human.  Further irony is found in the devil’s stubborn grasp on his pride while Jesus humbles himself to the lowest place.  This idea is not just contrary to the devil’s mindset.  It is contrary to the mindset that fills this world, even our hearts.

Of course, the Eternal Son is not weak and frail anymore.  However, he is still humble, waiting for the time when the Father sends Him to take up the Kingdom from the powers of this earth.

Jesus had reconciled them in order to present them: “holy, blameless and beyond reproach.”  There is a purpose in making peace between us and God. 

The idea of presenting them can also be translated as to be set or established before him.  It can be contemplated as a future thing that is after our resurrection, which is the easiest to see.  In that day, we will stand before God the Father with holiness and without blame. 

However, it can also be contemplated as already present.  To be holy is to be cleaned and set apart for God’s purposes.  This is a present reality for the believer.  The death and resurrection of Jesus has cleansed us and given us a mission for the purpose of God, both by what we are (His possession) and by what we do (His work).  In this sense, we can never be more holy.

Jesus has also removed the guilt of our sins from us so that we are blameless and beyond reproach right now.  Yes, we are often missing the mark of God’s perfect righteousness.  However, Jesus has paid the price for my sin.  This would be like the University trying to take me to court for bills that my Father in heaven has already paid.  They can protest that it wasn’t my money, but in the end, they have no case.  The price has been paid.  Their true problem is not that they were harmed, i.e., weren’t paid, but is in their own vindictiveness that cannot bear to see such a worm as me to get a break.

Thus, the devil can make every accusation against those who have been reconciled by Christ, but he has no standing and no case, at least not now.  The prime argument of Satan is that we have sinned and therefore must die.  In Christ, this argument is neutralized.

Of course, the believer ought to live in this life in such a way that there is no reason to “take us to court,” whether in the courts of men or heaven.  We ought to respond to the legal holiness and blamelessness supplied by Christ by letting the Holy Spirit teach us and enable us to live out the righteousness of Christ.

In the practical sense, we can become holier and less blameworthy.  This is a powerful part of the good news.  Our failings in this life will be fully healed in death and resurrection.

Verse 23 inserts a condition, “if.”  The “if” here recognizes that the believer must continue trusting Christ.  He must remain “in the faith.”  This is not about staying in a particular church or denomination.  Rather, we can remain in a place of perfect standing before God through our continual trust in Jesus.

Yet, believers can be “moved away” from the hope found in Jesus.  Their standing is only effective as they stay “grounded, steadfast, not moved away.”  He goes on to describe that this is the Gospel that has been preached everywhere, and is the same Gospel that Paul was made to serve.

It isn’t spoken yet, but Paul is aware of some people who are trying to disturb the Colossian Christians and draw them into a different Gospel.  There will be more on that in the next chapter.

Think about it.  The devil does not want you to keep trusting Jesus and serving him.  He will use anything in his power to coax or to bully you away from the work of Christ in you.  Yet, you have been enabled to resist him by the power of Christ that is working within you!  I am not strong enough in myself, but I can trust Christ and be strengthened by the Spirit.

Some may protest that if a believer does anything, then they are saving themselves.  They try to remove this idea that we can walk away from Christ, thus dissolving the condition in which we are reconciled to be holy and blameless before Christ.  However, this is an erroneous argument.

We are not talking about making sure your faith is strong enough to save yourself, as if our “capacity to believe” is extremely effective.  It is about responding to the grace of God that has been put before us.  There would be nothing to believe, if Jesus had not brought it close to us and put it before us.  We are only saved by His grace, but through our faith in Jesus.  Our faith didn’t make anything happen.  It was all the gift of God.  However, I still need to reach out and take hold of the gift.  The same Spirit that helps us to see the Gospel, also helps us to remain in the faith, if we are willing.

Like moving food from a plate that God has placed before us, the believer’s faith becomes a channel of God’s grace.  Were you “fed” by your own works?  Of course,  you were not.  No amount of making the motions of feeding ourselves can feed us, if God has not put a plate of food in front of us.  To protest that you are “feeding yourself” in this example, a person is focusing on the lower mechanics of the food moving to our mouth, and yet ignoring the higher mechanics of making the food possible.  It is God who has fed us and even now continues to feed us.  It is His work alone in making it possible, but His greater work is comingled with the lesser work of countless humans to help us to actually eat, including ourselves.

God’s sovereignty is not hurt by our ability to believe in Christ because this was His choice from the beginning.  It is actually His sovereignty that chooses to give us a real choice.  Those who protest against this are actually limiting the sovereignty of God to choose to do so.

As we move forward, I want to deal with what some may call an error.  Paul speaks of the Gospel “which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven…”  It comes across as an absolute statement that would include North and South America, along with every creature (really?  All the snails too?).  This protest is actually an obstinate attempt to avoid the point.  The Gospel was destined to go everywhere and be preached to all people.  By this time, the whole Roman empire had been filled with the Gospel of Jesus, and was even moving forward from their.  Paul is giving a backhanded argument about why they (we) shouldn’t move away from Jesus.  There is no other Gospel out there to find.  There is no other savior as if God has created multiple paths to salvation.  This is the way that has been preached everywhere and to everyone. 

The ministry of Christ through Paul (v. 26-29)

As Paul has mentioned his post as a minister of the Gospel, he then speaks about the way that Christ is working through him to help them.  In fact, this letter is exhibit number one to that fact.

It may seem odd that he begins by mentioning his own suffering.  Paul was currently in Rome under house-arrest.  He had endured all kinds of hostility from his fellow Jews and from hostile Gentiles.  He endured these hardships because that is what it took to take the Gospel to places like Colossae.

Why can he say that he rejoices in these sufferings?  He can say it because this is what the Lord was asking of him.  Who will pay the price to take my good news to those who are still my enemies?  Paul is pleasing his Savior and Lord, Jesus.

He can also remember the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:11-12.  “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.  Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

Do you believe that God takes note of all the hardship you endure, whether to take the Gospel to people or even to live for Him?  Do you believe that He will reward you for anything you suffer on behalf of serving Him?  Paul saw that he was in good company with all the prophets and saints who had gone on before.  We all love a good story of courage under fire, but it is another thing when we are under fire.

Paul is not just identifying with Jesus and the prophets before him.  He sees himself as laboring with the Lord Himself in these things.  The Lord is not untouched with our sufferings.  He is even now suffering with us.

We can become accusatory towards God.  “It is so hard down here!  When will you come down and do something about it?”  However, it is the other way around.  God has suffered over the sin of humanity from eternity past.  Even as He laid the foundations of the earth, it was with tears.  It is only in Jesus that we begin to catch a glimpse of the suffering of God.  No matter how horrendous the suffering of Christ was, it was only an analog to the reality of God’s suffering.  The irony is that, as we accusingly shout at His indifference, He is even now suffering over our refusal to repent and trust Him, i.e., our indifference to His grand overtures of love.

The second part of verse 24 is somewhat cumbersome in English.  Paul talks about “filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions.”  The word for afflictions is typically translated as tribulations or persecutions.  It is a term that has the idea of intense pressure between a rock and a hard place, and it is becoming tighter. 

Paul is not talking about the suffering that Christ did on the cross to make peace between us and God.  There is no lack in that.  Jesus once and for all died for our sins (Hebrews 7:27).  Rather, Paul is talking about the afflictions that are necessary to bring the Gospel to people and helping them to endure.  We are the “body” of Christ, and as such, we are to give ourselves to the desire of the Head of the Church, Jesus.  This was prophesied long ago that the followers of Messiah would volunteer to join him in this ministry of suffering, being afflicted, for the sake of bringing salvation to others.

Thus, Christ is pictured as still working, being afflicted, in His Church, in order to minister to the lost world-wide.  We all have a portion, a part, in this.  Some have a portion of greater affliction than others.  Paul was doing his part.

The question is now this.  Will I do my part?  We can be discouraged by thinking we are not doing any good.  Don’t do that.  Instead, lay your concerns before God in prayer.  “God, I feel like I am falling short in my service for you.  But, I ask you to fill me, empower me, enable me, and lead me to be useful for your purposes.  I recognize my inability to fathom the depths of what you are doing through me, and I ask you to strengthen my faith for what I am facing right now.”

In verse 25, Paul talks about how he was made to be a minister for their benefit and for others.  He had a stewardship, a post of management within God’s people for which he would give account one day.  He sees himself as proclaiming the full Truth of God and as fulfilling all that the Word of God said would be and tells us to do.  Some versions only bring out one side of this, but both are intended.

Paul then digresses to emphasize the Gospel further.  It had been a mystery through the ages, but now had been revealed to the saints (v. 26).  The Gospel is manifest in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, but also in the teachings he gave to his apostles. 

The Gospel mystery is all about Jesus.  How could God redeem Israel and the Gentiles, while taking them out of the hands of the devil?  The good news is that Jesus is the answer.

We might ask why it was kept a mystery.  I can see at least two reasons.  First, God values faith over a thin veneer of service.  Thus, He acts in such a way as to prove that He is trustworthy, but doesn’t reveal all that is ahead so that we can demonstrate that we do trust Him.

The second reason has to do with our enemy the devil and his evil cohorts.  1 Corinthians 2:8 says, “[God’s] wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”  This can include human rulers, but clearly references the spiritual powers that truly ruled the nations.  The salvation of humanity hinged upon the crucifixion of Jesus.  If the devil had understood this, he would have kept Jesus from being killed.  Instead, God used his desperation and pride against him in order to save us.  Satan wields the blow that loses the battle for him and wins it on our behalf.  Yes, Jesus is our champion, but he took out our enemy in a way that calls all to repentance.

Of course, after the cross, it was now God’s will that this revealed mystery be made known among the Gentiles so they could have its riches.  He doesn’t flesh this out, but uses the word “glory.”  Some of the riches are found in the glory that comes from walking the path of Jesus behind him and by his power.  Yet, there is another part of the riches, the glory we will have as we stand in glorified bodies next to our champion, Jesus!

This mystery can be summed up in the short phrase, “Christ in [us], the hope of glory!”  This is not a hope as the world hopes.  This is a hope that God has set in front of us.  He has revealed it to us, promised it for us, and even now, it is reserved for us in the heavens where no devil of hell can touch it.  I am not just struggling alone hoping to reach it someday.  The Spirit of Christ is even now inside of me, working to bring me to it.

In verse 28, Paul mentions three verbal phrases regarding what He is doing.  He is proclaiming Christ to them.  He is admonishing them, i.e., warning them of dangers.  And, he is teaching them with all wisdom that he has received from Christ.

He is doing these three things in order to “present every man complete in Christ.”  This idea of presenting them is the same that we mentioned back in verse 22.  There Christ is the one doing the presenting.  Here, Paul works alongside Christ in order to set them, to establish them, as complete in Christ.

This too can be contemplated as a present reality and a future one.  On the day of resurrection, the people of God will stand in ranks with the Lord Jesus Christ.  Paul’s goal is that they will be found there on that day.  We will all be complete, or finished, perfected on that day.

Yet, even now, we have everything we need for life and godliness.  Through Jesus, God is supplying all that we need.  In this sense, we are complete, perfect.  As long as we keep our trust in Christ, He will bring us all to that hope.  The enemy cannot stop us.  Our hope is sure.  This is a vast difference from where I was before Jesus.  I wasn’t even a trouble for the devil.

Paul then testifies that his labor was a labor that was empowered by Christ in him.  Literally he says, “according to his working in me in divine power working!”  That’s a lot of working help from Christ!  It is not our job to be strong enough.  It is our job to present ourselves to the work of Christ everyday.  We can’t conjure up divine power, but we can be present and let God’s Spirit empower us to do His work.

Of course, how that divine power manifests is up to God.  You may want God to do some spectacular thing that makes you look powerful.  The power of God was even then being demonstrated in Paul by working through him in writing letters.  It is not generally how we want it to happen, but as God determines.

So, we get up and faithfully give ourselves to the work that he has given us, but not in our own power.  Do you have kids or grandkids?  Then, get up and give yourself to them for the purposes of God.  Whatever the relationship that God has given you, serve His purposes in them.

You are the one planting the seeds.  You are the one watering those seeds that have been planted.  You are the one who may even get to harvest some of those seeds that have come to fruit.  However, never forget that it is God who gives the increase.

We are still here because there are still strongholds of the devil that need pulled down.  In fact, our faith is possible because of the faith of someone in the past that dared to pull down the devil’s stronghold in you.  This is the work of Christ, not just through Paul, but through any of us who will join Him in this mission!

Christ's work audio