Your Ministry Matters, Finish Well!

Your Ministry Matters, Finish Well!

Your Ministry Matters, Finish Well!
Colossians 4:16-18

“What We Do In Life Echoes in Eternity.” This is perhaps one of the most memorable and meaningful movie quotes from the last 20 years. It was uttered in the movie Gladiator by General Maximus as he was making an inspirational speech just before leading his men into a fierce battle. Now, I am not recommending you go home and watch the movie because aside from this line and some really good manly fight scenes it does have its issues.

But let’s focus for a moment on the quote. “What we do in life echoes in eternity.” Even though this is a line from a secular movie it is filled with great truth. In fact it’s a truth that we see over and over again in Scripture.

Think for a moment about how the Bible tells us that what we do in life echoes in or affects our eternity.

For example, how we do or don’t respond to the Gospel affects where we will spend eternity. If we hear of how we are all sinners, of how God has a plan to deal with that sin, and of how that plan involved Jesus (God’s own Son) being born as a human baby, living a perfect life without ever sinning even once, dying a horrible death on the cross in our place, and rising from the dead on the third day. If we hear that and then ask God for His forgiveness and acceptance based on our trading our sins for Jesus’ perfection and righteousness then we will spend an eternity with God in Heaven. But if we chose not to depend on Jesus Christ and his righteousness then we won’t spend eternity with God in Heaven, we will instead spend an eternity separated from God in a place called Hell.

So that one choice that we make in life greatly affects or “echoes” in our eternity. But other choices we make have eternal impact as well.

How we live determines the effectiveness of our witness or our ministry. If we choose to live in a way that does not honor Christ and places what it means to be a Christian in a bad light then we become what Paul calls in 1 Corinthians 8:9 “a stumbling block” for others. Our actions may cause someone to be difficult to reach with the Gospel due to our hypocrisy. Our actions may cause other “weaker believers” (again from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians) our actions may cause those folks to follow in our misguided footsteps jeopardizing their ability to be effective ministers or representatives of the Gospel.

So please turn to our scripture passage this morning which is Colossians 4:16-18 which can be found on page _____ of the church Bible. And as you do so and as we conclude our study through the book of Colossians I want to ask you to remember these words, “What we do in life echoes in eternity.”
I want you to remember them because they very much summarize the main point of the text this morning. And because they are words that sound very much like the ones Paul uses as he encourages Archippus and us to Finish Well!

So please stand with me as we read from the Word of God.

16 Now when this epistle is read among you, see that it is read also in the church of the Laodiceans, and that you likewise read the epistle from Laodicea. 17 And say to Archippus, “Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you may fulfill it.”
18 This salutation by my own hand—Paul. Remember my chains. Grace be with you. Amen.

(Prayer)

Before we go any further this morning I want to take just a couple of minutes to review our study of Colossians. In this book we have been reading and studying about “The All Satisfying Christ.” Paul has reminded us that Christ is the head of all things, that he is first in all things. And that he is the source of all things that are meant to bring us satisfaction.

In chapter 1 Paul reminds us that Christ is responsible for our salvation. Verse 14:

in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins

Paul begins with this reminder of course because it is the greatest of all the wonderful things that come from Christ. It is the promise of eternity that is only possible through the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus that is the greatest gift anyone can receive.

But Paul does not want us to forget that while salvation is the greatest of all Christ does for us it is far from the only good gift he gives.

We are reminded in verses 15-18 of chapter 1 that Christ is also the creator and sustainer of all things.

16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things and in Him all things consist.

We owe our very existence to the fact that Christ in His great love for us and in His desire to show forth His glory created us, the world, and every thing in it.

And in the remainder of chapter 1 and all of chapter 3 Paul points us to the wonderful relationships that Christ created for us and uses to draw is closer to him.
He created the body of the church for our encouragement and as the means he intends to spread the good news of the Gospel message. He created marriage and the institution of family in order that we might fulfill His original command from Genesis…

to have dominion over the Earth and to be fruitful and multiply

Paul writes this letter in order that the Colossians and all believers who come after them might be encouraged in their remembering of the mighty, loving, powerful, sovereign, satisfying Christ!

Then as we come to the very end of the letter, in our passage this morning, we find Paul making one last appeal to a man named Archippus and one last appeal to us in light of all the things he has reminded us about the Christ we serve. We find him giving us one last word of encouragement to remember all these things about Christ and to react to them by serving Him out of love with all that we are.

But before we dive into looking at Paul’s last word of encouragement to remember that our ministry matters. Before we look at how he reminds us that “What we do in life echoes in eternity” let me address a couple of minor points that exist in these verses. Then we will spend the remainder of our time discussing Paul’s challenge to finish well.

Look with me for just a moment at verse 16.

16 Now when this epistle is read among you, see that it is read also in the church of the Laodiceans, and that you likewise read the epistle from Laodicea.

Ok now turn with me over to the book of Laodiceans chapter 1 verse 10. Oh, wait you can’t do that can you? The letter to the church at Laodicea is not in the Bible is it? In fact we don’t have a copy of it anywhere. So this is one of those verses of Scripture that brings about a great amount of speculation. Questions like:

Where is this lost letter?
What was in this letter?
Are we missing something because we don’t have this letter?

It also brings about several speculative answers:

Some say that it is actually the letter to the Ephesians but that it had already been passed on to the church at Laodicea so it is being referred to by where it most recently was.
Some contend that it is a lost letter but that it was never intended by God to be a part of Scripture and so was not protected under God’s providence as others were.
And others, including me, would say that it really does not matter what it said because God is a God of love and would not allow us to be missing some vital piece of information that would affect our salvation or relationship with Him. It is not in God’s nature to stand by and giggle saying something like, “If they only knew what was in that lost letter to Laodicea. Boy are they going to be surprised when they find out everything they were doing wrong.” That is not who God is. He has given us everything we need to know in order to have a saving relationship with Him.

Besides all of these questions and speculations really miss the point of this verse anyway. The point of this verse is that churches are called to cooperate with and support one another. Honestly there is a whole sermon in this one verse but we don’t have time for two sermons this morning so let me just say this.

The New Testament shows churches cooperating with one another, supporting one another, focusing together on the overall mission of sharing Christ with the world. No where in the New Testament will you find churches being told to compete with one another for members, no where will you find churches being commended for speaking poorly of one another, no where will you find churches being encouraged to work independently of one another.

In fact throughout the New Testament we see exactly what we see right here in verse 16. The expectation that churches will work together to accomplish the mission of sharing the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

So let me just say this about verse 16 and move on. Don’t get hung up on what we don’t know about some mysterious letter. Instead, be challenged and convicted to work together with all faithful, and notice I said faithful—we are not called to band together with those who have embraced false or heretical teachings, but with faithful believers regardless of what building they might meet in.

So, now let’s jump into verse 17 and examine Paul’s challenge to remember that our ministry matters, that “what we do in life echoes in eternity.” And in this little verse Paul shows us that there are three things we must do because our ministry matters, what we do in this life matters. 3 things that we must do in order to Finish Well. So look with me again at verse 17:

17 And say to Archippus, “Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you may fulfill it.”

The first thing Paul tells Archippus and us that we must do in order to finish well is that we must TAKE HEED or…

1. Take Pause

Paul is telling us to remember our calling. To remember that because we are Christians we have a calling upon our lives to honor God in all that we do. We have a responsibility to live differently because we have been changed. He is telling us that we must be ever on our guard in protecting the image of Christ in us so that we will be useful to Him. He is saying be careful because your ministry matters.

It is very, very easy for us to do something that will damage our ability to be useful for Christ. It is very easy for us to allow ourselves to be drawn back into the world as if we have not been changed by God and made into new creatures through the righteousness of Christ. But Paul is saying don’t let that happen, stay on guard, endure, keep going, don’t fall. He is echoing what he writes to the Romans in Romans 12:2

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

He is saying be careful, take heed, take pause, think about how you can be a shining example for the Kingdom of Christ. He says think about it, dwell on it, decide what steps you can take to Finish well. And as I thought about that this week I thought about three things that would be helpful for us to think about as we take pause and prepare our minds to think rightly about finishing well. So let me give you those things. First we must determine to …

a. Persist—Don’t Quit. Don’t ever give up. We will have moments where things get difficult. We will have moments when we fail and feel like we have disqualified ourselves from being useful to Christ due to our sinfulness. But we cannot give up! We do not have that option! In Romans 12:2, Paul said we are to PROVE through our actions, through our ministry what is the will of God. We cannot do that if we give up.

If we do not persist, if we let our failures keep us down we have lost the battle, we have given up our ministry. We have said to Satan, “You win.” Instead, when sin battles against us we must remember that it does not fight from the throne, it does not fight from a place of victory. When it attacks us and wins the momentary battle we cannot stay down. We must get up in the strength of Christ who does battle from the throne of victory and declare war!

And that leads us to the second thing that will help us to take pause. We must determine to Protect our ministry.

b. Protect Your Ministry—In his book the Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis talks about how angry Satan is each time a person gives his life to Christ. At that moment Satan loses the war for that soul. He cannot regain that ground. So in response he redoubles his effort to make that new Christian into someone who is not useful to Christ. He brings every possible temptation before that individual in hopes that we will take the bait and damage our ability to show Christ to others. That is exactly what Peter is talking about in his first letter. He is writing to believers when he says in 1 Peter 5:8

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour

He wants your ministry. He wants to devour it. He wants to destroy it and he will fight tooth and nail to take you out of play. He will fight dirty. He is the master observer who knows exactly which buttons to push and which temptations are your weakness. So protect you ministry. Know where your weaknesses are and seek out help and accountability to put up defenses. Be ready for his attacks!

If you battle greed. Surround yourself with people who will lovingly point out when you are allowing material things to become your God. If you battle with lust, put defenses in place, get an accountability partner who can ask you how you are doing, put filters and accountability software on your internet devices.

Husbands and wives, be proactive in protecting your marriage. Don’t let anyone else in. Don’t text or email someone of the opposite sex if they are not family or if it is not work related. Make sure your spouse has access to your email and text logs and make sure they have access to yours. Don’t go anywhere or be alone with someone of the opposite sex who is not your spouse. Guard your ministry by guarding your marriage, remember there is a roaring lion who wants to devour everything you have that may bring honor and glory to Christ. Protect your ministry.

The third thing we can do to be careful or to take heed is to position ourselves rightly.

c. Position Yourself Folks this is an issue of battle strategy. When an army goes to war they want to occupy the high ground. They want to be in a position that is defensible. They do not want to be in a place where they can be taken by surprise or where they can be attacked on multiple fronts at once.

So where do we position ourselves in order to be ready for the attacks that will come? Look with me at Colossians 3:1-4:

If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

Position yourself near to Christ. Let him be your source of strength. Let him be your source of encouragement.

Craig Groshel, pastor of LifeChurch.tv, tells a story that illustrates well why we should position ourselves near Christ.

He tells a story about his family attending a backyard barbecue at a friends house. While they were there a 7 year old bully decides to pick on his 4 year old son. Craig and the bully’s father are talking when they observe the bigger older child walk up to the smaller younger child and very roughly push him down. Craig is astonished when the bully’s father fails to address the issue with his son but doesn’t say anything. His young son gets up and comes closer to his father as a place of protection. The bully doesn’t seem to care, comes over and pushes his son down again. This time the bully’s father simply says “they”re just being boys.” At this point the younger boy with tears in his eyes gets even closer to his father before the bully pushes him down again. Once again the other father does nothing. At this point Craig tells him that they will just move to a different place in the yard and get away from the bully. As they are walking away the bully pushes the boy from behind so he skids across the ground on his face. Once more he gets up and looks at his dad who simply looks him in the eye and say “take him out!” With a smile on his face the four year old boy tackles the older boy with a force that sends them both rolling across the ground before the bully gets up and runs away. Craig by the way simply looks at the bully’s dad and says “they”re just being boys.”

How does this story illustrate how positioning ourselves close to Christ is protecting our ministry. Well like Craig in the story Jesus is there to make sure things do not get out of hand. He is there as the one we know will ultimately keep us safe. He is also there to encourage us to fight when we need to fight and to walk away when we need to walk away.

So because our ministry matters we must take pause or take heed or be careful in order to finish well. Secondly, and very quickly, because our ministry matters we must…

2. Take Part. Paul teaches over and over again that every Christian has a calling on his or her life. Every Christian has a role to play in Kingdom work. Every believer is gifted to be a part of the full body of believers in order that we might all accomplish the work Christ has entrusted us with as His church.

So here in verse 17 Paul reminds us again that we have received a ministry and there are two things implied here.

a. First, Ministry is not optional. We have received it. It is a done deal. We do not have the luxury of sitting on the sidelines as a Christian while everyone else does the work. We don’t have the luxury of saying “I am tired or I have done my part and it is someone else’s turn”. We don’t have the luxury of getting offended or hurt and deciding that we are going to pick our toys and go home.
And Paul is uniquely qualified to tell us ministry is not an option, that there is no valid reason for quitting. Based on his experiences (imprisonment, beatings, stonings, shipwrecks, hatred from his fellow Jews) he can say there is no sufficient reason to “opt out” of ministry. It is a responsibility of every believer.

b. Second, Ministry is a blessing. It is something that we have received. It is not something that is forced upon us. It is not meant to be a weight around our neck. It is not meant to be some sort of punishment. Instead it is something that we get to do it is a gift. We are blessed with the responsibility of sharing the Jesus that we love, the Jesus who changed our lives, the Jesus that has given us new life, we are blessed to share Him with others!

Third and finally if we are going to finish well. If our ministry is going to make a positive echo in eternity then we must …

3. Take Pride
We must take pride in our ministry. Now I am not talking about a sinful pride that says “Hey look at me and what I have done!” I am talking about a pride that says I have done my absolute best to honor the God, Lord, Christ, Savior, and King I serve. I have given Him my all. It means that we are willing to give our all, leaving nothing in reserve, trusting God to honor those efforts. And do you know what? He will! He will honor our ministry and see to it that it echoes true in eternity if we will simply do two things to make sure we fulfill the calling we have received.

First, Do Your Best. That is all God asks. He doesn’t ask us to do His work. He doesn’t ask us to do things that He has not gifted us to do. He simply asks us to do the very best with what He has given us to work with and leave the rest to Him. If we do that, we will have a ministry that “echoes in eternity”. We may never hear the echoes here in this life but when we are faithful to do our best God is faithful to do His work and bring eternal results. Let me share a quick story that illustrates this.

Jeff Christopherson a church planter in Toronto, Canada shares the story of his parents that shows how God honors our best effort, even if we never know.

Allan and Helen Christopherson were married in 1960. Neither of them were believers and Allan was working at a job that was sending him down the road to becoming an alcoholic. In 1967 this young couple decided to find a babysitter for their two young children and go on a date to see a movie. Upon driving to a small town single screen theater they discovered the only movie playing was one produced by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association called The Restless Ones. They paid their $1.20 admission and began to watch the movie.

In a final scene Billy Graham’s preaching emanated from a car radio, and my dad clasped my mom’s hand as they wrestled with the conviction of the living Christ.

The film soon reached its conclusion, and a middle-aged man, in suit and tie, strolled center stage. If anyone wished to respond to Christ, he said, they could come pray with him. He patiently waited. No one came.

But God wasn’t finished.

In the comfort of their car outside the Orpheum, Allan and Helen surrendered their past, present and future to Jesus Christ. Immediately God led Allan through faith steps: quitting his job at Molson’s, learning a new trade (welding) and eventually meeting a quiet and intense man God would use to change our family.

God changed their lives. They started a new church and raised two boys who would grow up to be church planters.

Fast-forward 35 years. My father was invited to be on an interdenominational leadership team to host a Franklin Graham Crusade in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

This is the crescendo.

The chairman of the initiative made some introductory comments and then made a request: “I would like us to spend our first few moments celebrating what God has already done through the ministry of the Grahams. Would two or three of you in this room want to come to the microphone and share?”

My dad’s heart began to race. He sensed God saying, “Share your story.” Yet his flesh said, “You’re just a welder.” Before he knew it, he stood and was speaking about that day in 1967 and “The Restless Ones” at the Orpheum Theatre, about a skipped altar call and an encounter with Christ in a VW Beetle. He told about the church they’d found and those two small children who were now spending their lives starting new churches in Toronto and across Chile. “I do not know how many hundreds of lives are now in the Kingdom because my wife and I went to the movies that day,” he added.

Silence filled the room. Then an elderly man slowly made his way straight to my dad. Tears streaming, he stammered: “Hello Allan, my name is Tom Dice. I am a retired family counselor in the area. I want you to know something, Allan. God asked me to bring that movie to Prince Albert. I rallied my friends and colleagues, and we really expected great things to happen. Night after night we played the movie and night after night I stood before the audience and asked them to respond to Christ. Night after night I went home very disappointed. Until this day, to my knowledge, nobody ever responded. I thought my project was a failure. I wondered if I had heard God right in the first place. But I did hear Him, Allan. Now I see that it wasn’t a failure.” He embraced my dad and said, “Now I see. Praise Jesus, now I see.”

If we do our best God will honor it. He will do His work and our ministry will matter.

Finally, Paul encourages us here to Finish Well. He says fulfill your ministry. Make it your priority. I want to end this morning by encouraging everyone one of in this room to finish well. I have a really short video clip from the movie Courageous that I want to show you as a means of encouragement and then we will close out this morning.

(Courageous video clip here)

Did you hear what that dad said. I didn’t start well, but I want to finish well and I want you to finish well. That is what Paul is telling us here this morning. You have the opportunity to finish well. You have the opportunity to make your ministry matter. What you do in this life is going to echo in eternity.

So regardless of how you started, end well. Paul didn’t start well, but he ended well. He ran the race and finished well. We too still have time to finish well. All we have to do is draw near to the all satisfying Christ.

 

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