Well, I invite you to take your Bibles this evening, and let's turn to Hebrews chapter 3. Hebrews chapter 3. We'll continue our worship by spending our time in God's Word. As you turn to Hebrews chapter 3, I'd be curious if you know what the very first question that someone asks God is in the Bible? What's the very first question that God is asked? If you think about it, there are actually a lot of good questions asked of God and asked of Jesus in the Bible. Think of John the Baptist and his jail cell saying, “Are you the one or do we look for another?” I think of the rich young ruler running up to Jesus and saying, “What must I do to be saved?” I think of David crying out in the Psalms, “How long O Lord, will you forget me forever?” Or I even think of Moses asking that question. “If the people say, what's your name, what should I tell them?” Those are all important questions. But do you know the first recorded question that God is asked from a person in the Bible? The answer is, actually, it's in Genesis 4. It's sarcastic. It's when God says to Cain, “Where is Abel, your brother?” He said, “I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?” That's the question I want to talk about tonight. Am I my brother's keeper?
What is my responsibility to the fellow Christians I go through life with? And by “those people,” I mean the one sitting next to you right now. What is my responsibility towards these people that I go to church with on a weekly basis? How responsible are we? What should we do? What obligations do we have to these people? And that is an important question to ask in our increasingly isolated culture. Technology has made it where we need far less personal interactions. Anyone who doesn't fit the way of life that we enjoy, anyone that bothers us,, maybe they're a little cringy, maybe they're annoying. We could just kind of cut them out and ignore them. That's our increasingly anti-social culture. We see that it reminds me a little bit of Tolkien and the Lord of the Rings, the character Bilbo on his one hundred and eleventeenth birthday. He says the following, “I don't know half of you half as well as I should like and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.” A little tongue in cheek there. You'll get that one later.
But, anyway, the point being, we live in a culture where it's okay not to like people and not to be around people. And despite our culture's anti-social tendencies, do you notice that churches are always trying to get people in groups that any church you go to can join? Let me give you a list, a small group, a growth group, a community group, a connect group, a shepherd group, a life group, a family group, and accountability group. We’ve got men's groups, women's groups, home groups, and here at Compass HB, we have fellowship groups. Right? It's awesome. It's great. We love it. But have you ever wondered, why do we do this? Why do we not only gather all together on a Sunday morning and then not just leave and see each other a week later? But why do we meet in groups? What's the point of this? We know that the famous last words of any church are “That's just the way we've always done it.” And so, we need to think about, well, why do we do this? What's the purpose behind it? And we have an answer to this, and it's the answer to Cain’s question, “Am I my brother's keeper?” The answer to that question is yes. Yes, we are. We are responsible for fellow-Christians in our life. Listen, if you're here tonight and you are a Christian, that is, you've come to recognize that God is holy and righteous, that he is both creator and judge, that is, you've recognized your sin before him. You've confessed your sin and called upon him to forgive you. You've entrusted your life to his Son, Jesus, who died in the place for sinners, and now have repented of your sin, and committed your whole life to him. If that is you, not only have you been forgiven of sin, not only have you been saved from wrath, but you have been saved into a family. You're a part of the church that is God's plan. And what we find that the message of Scripture, over and over again is, now I do life with these people in such a way that I'm responsible for their spiritual health.
Let me show you a few verses for this. This is Hebrews chapter 3, we're in Hebrews 3. Many of you know this. Verse 12 says, “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called today, that none of you may be pardoned by the deceitfulness of sin. Who's responsible? Is it that I don't fall away, that you don't fall away? Well, it's actually the Christians sitting around us, and it's your job to look out for them. That's what he's saying there. Exhort one another.
Flipping ahead, if you would, go to Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10 gives the same idea. It matters to me whether everyone else around me makes it to heaven, if they keep following Jesus, to keep growing in holiness. So, Hebrews 10:24 will say, “Let us consider how to stir up one another to loving good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another all the more as you see the day drawing near.” So, we see that not neglecting to meet together is not just a command to attend church, it's a command to stir one another up, to help each other walk in holiness and to do godly, righteous acts.
We know 1 John 4:7 regularly says that those who know God love the way that he loves, and we're supposed to love others, the assumption being the other people that we're in community with. These are just a few verses that help answer the question. The point is clear, I am my brother's keeper, right? We have responsibility to others, and so that's why so many churches try to do life together. As the expression goes, we try to get people into groups, and that's why we do that here as well.
Now we're doing this series. We're talking about making disciples. We're talking about in the church this week, me, and the next week, Pastor Bruce. We'll talk about making disciples in the home, because our fellowship groups are starting this week. How many of you are excited to get back to fellowship groups? Right? Yeah, it's been a while. If you're not part of fellowship group, you could learn about the Foundations class in the bulletin, how to get connected to one. But we want to make sure, hey, if we're doing this church thing together, if we're doing these groups, how do we know that we're doing it right? How do I know that it's going well? What's the assessment? What criteria? Is it the quality of the people. Is it the fun of the conversations? Is it the quality of the snacks? I've seen some of you on Wednesdays now; you got some good snacks that are going to your group. Well, how do we measure this? Well, thankfully, the Scripture gives us some insight, and it's going to give you some insight as you go back to your groups and as we get ready for another semester of looking at God's Word, studying it in Romans. How do we make sure we're doing this well?
And for that, let's spend the rest of our time in Colossians, chapter 1. Colossians chapter 1. And my goal is that this will give us some biblical insight on how we think about our fellowship groups, how to make sure we're approaching them the right way, that we're showing up with the right expectations and the right kind of participation. And if you're here tonight and you're going like, well, this message doesn't apply to me. You know, I'm not in a group, and I don't ever want to be in a group. Well, I would just ask you, how would you apply this without meeting with people like this? The assumption in this passage is that you are connected with people, and we would invite you to join us. You could talk with somebody at Compass Connect after, about how to get plugged in. To get plugged into our church again, we have a Foundations class next month that you could join in. But let's talk about this. My prayer is that the Lord would use this sermon to help us grow in our thinking, and we'd be more useful to him in our group. So, if you would, would you please stand for the reading of God's Word? We're going to be Colossians 1:28-29. I'll read it, and we'll go ahead and we'll pray together so you could stay standing when I finish reading. Colossians 1, verse 28 says,
“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.”
This is God's Word. Let's pray as we think about this passage together. Father, we are thankful that you have saved us, that you have sent your son to ransom for yourself sinners who now can call you Father, and that you've not only saved us individually, but that you have connected us to each other, that we are the household of God, we are the body. We are the bride of Christ. Lord, we pray that you would help us to think in that way. I ask that you would forgive us for ways that we have been selfish in our approach to church life, and that you'd use your word tonight to strengthen this church so that we might better magnify your name. We pray these things in the name of your Son, Jesus. Amen.
Then go ahead and grab your seats as we dive into this. So, I want us to understand the context a little bit. Paul is writing this to a real church in a city called Colossae. He's writing this from jail, and he's writing because he's very concerned about the situation there. In there are some false teachers that have snuck into Colossae that are teaching heretical doctrines. And what he's doing. He's trying to defend them against it. It's not quite clear what it is. It's a bit of legalism. Let's go back to Jewish ritualism, combined with something known as Gnosticism. You have to have some secret knowledge to get to know the Lord, and you guys don't have it yet. But we see he talks about it in chapter two. At the very beginning, he says this in chapter two, verse four, he says, I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. Hey, I'm telling you these things so they won't be led astray by things that sound good. They're just false. He says something similar in Colossians 2:6. He'll say, “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus, the Lord, so walk in him, live according to who Christ is.” Verse 8, “See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.”
See, there was false teaching going around about who Jesus is and what it meant to be right with Jesus. By the way, that's the way most cults work today. They attack who Jesus is, or how it is that we could be made right with God through Jesus. So, Paul is saying, I want you to understand Christ and walk with him. You don't need more than Jesus to be saved. You don't need to know more than Jesus to know truth. Jesus is truth, and he is salvation. And so back in chapter one, what Paul has been doing is he's been talking about the supremacy of Christ, the matchless beauty and glory of Jesus. And we could spend a whole year in Colossians 15 through 20, talk about how Jesus is the image of God. Verse 16, “He is the Creator.” Verse 17, “He's preeminent and sustainer.” There's so much here about Jesus, but that he is the one, verse 20 “who has made peace by the blood of his cross.” And then he says, “Not only is this who Jesus is, but this is what he's done for you. So, verse 21 he says, “You were once alienated, separated from Jesus, from God. You were hostile, in mind, doing evil deeds. You loved sin and hated obedience. But he has now reconciled you in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him.” Colossians. This is who you are in light of the supremacy of Jesus. This is how you relate to him. But then he says this. He says that he wants to present you holy and blameless. Verse 23, “If indeed, you continue in the faith, if you cling to the truth, the truth of which I became a minister.” So now, what Paul does in our section is he's explaining to them, hey, you're in Christ. You know who Christ is. Cling to the truth. And my ministry is about making sure people continue in the faith. So, he's talking, I want you to not be led astray by false doctrine about how to be made righteous, false teaching about who Jesus is. I want you to continue. That's all. Paul's describing himself. He sees himself as “I suffer for that. I'm a steward of the ministry. I'm proclaiming this.” And then he gets to our text, and what I want us to see as we see here an example of how to think about serving ministry is something that every Christian is supposed to do. You're all in the ministry. Ephesians 4 says we're all supposed to be doing the work of ministry. So, let's turn from Paul's example here about how and allow this to shape our thinking about groups. So here we go, verses 28 to 29.
How does this help us think about our weekly gatherings? First, I want you to notice Colossians 1:28 he says him, “We proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom that we may present everyone mature in Christ.” I want to do this a little backwards. I want us to look at the second half of the passage first, and I have good reason for that. It's because there's a Greek word in this passage that helps us think this way. It's actually a favorite Greek word of mine. When you go to seminary, you're allowed to have a favorite Greek word. Why else would you do that? But it says the Greek word of mine. It's actually the word “that”. Do you guys see the word “that” in there? It's not a big word, and it's even smaller in Greek, it's three letters. It’s “hina” is what it is, but it's an important word. It's a statement clause. It means purpose. It means in order to, or so that, or the purpose of, the way you would use it is statement A, so that statement B, that's its purpose. There's an action “so that,” and then the aim behind it. So I want to first think about Paul's aim here. What's he after? He says he's doing these things first, after the verse, so that we, him, and those serving with him, may present everyone mature in Christ. What does Paul want? He wants the believers to be mature in Christ.
That's number one for your handout. You ready? Number one is this: “The mission of our meetings is maturity.” The mission of our meetings is maturity. I love my group. Meets on Wednesday nights. I love getting together with my group. We have a great time together. We share stories together, we share laughs together. But the main reason we get together is maturity in Christ. That would be the aim of your group, as well. The great “what” you're aiming for is not just, did we have a good conversation tonight? Did we avoid awkward pauses? Did everyone share? Nobody said anything wonky. The goal is, are we maturing in Christ? That's what we're looking for here. That's Paul's purpose behind his ministry. And for us, the reason why we do midweek meetings, Saturday morning get togethers, while you all text each other in your groups all the time, is maturity that you would have. You would be mature. Your spouse would be mature. And primarily you care about the maturity of the Christians in your group, that they would be coming mature in Christ. That's why we meet. And Paul sees this as a weighty thing. He begins by saying, “we may present everyone mature in Christ.” Now, the word “present” there, there's some importance to that. There is some weightiness behind that, because it's not just saying that we want everyone to be mature. The word there “mature” has significance behind it. It has the idea of an important presentation. So, it's the word that it's used in a few different ways. It's used if someone was going up to present their offering at the temple. It's the same Greek word behind it, right? You want that to be a spotless offering, a pure offering. There's importance to this offering. I want to present this pure, I want to present you mature in Christ. It's also the same word that would be used if someone was meeting before a judge, if they were standing before a magistrate, some sort of government authority. It's the word that's used when Paul appears before the governor in Acts 23, when he's presented before him. It's not just that he's present. It's no, there's importance. There's something of value going here? I actually think that the way that this word is meant to be used, this way for us to think about it, is when we are presented before the Lord Jesus at his return or at our death. Let me show you how this word is used. So, flip back if you want, to the left. Let's go to Ephesians chapter 5. I want you to see that this idea of us being mature, of us walking in holiness, is important in the early church the apostles are thinking about. Will these people be standing before Jesus in a way that they were holy and don't have to be ashamed? They won't be exposed in that moment?
So, in Ephesians 5:27, Paul is talking about marriage, and he says for “husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church. He gave himself up for her that he might sanctify her. In verse 27 says “so that he may present the church to himself without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.” That word “present” there is the same idea that there is coming a day that the church will be presented to Jesus like the bride is given to the groom, and his aim that he died is so that they would be presented holy in that moment. Flip, if you would, just a page to your right, Philippians chapter 1. Our words are not here, but the same idea is here. Philippians 1:9. This is Paul's prayer for the Philippian church. He says what? Philippians 1:9. “It is my prayer that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.” He's saying, I want you that when Jesus shows up, you're the holiest you've ever been, that you're known for righteousness like that you're praising God for his saving grace, but it's evident that his changing Grace has impacted your life. I want that to be clear when Jesus comes back, that you didn't just mail it in knowing that you know you had some sort of spiritual senioritis, but that you would be walking in him at the time. The reason why I think Paul has in mind here the end, either that your personal death or the return of the Lord, is because of our context.
So now we're back in Colossians 1. Our context, right before this, he uses the same kind of language that seems to imply kind of the end here, when Christ returns. So, Colossians, 1:22, “He's now reconciled you in his body by the flesh of his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him.” There it is, “holy and blameless.” That's it. To present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him. When he comes, when you appear before him, that you are presentable, walking according to the gospel. So that's Paul's aim. I want you to be mature, because it counts, because the Lord, as somebody recently preached up here, could come back at any time. And so therefore we need to be ready. And part of our readiness is holiness. So now I want to present you in that great presentation before the Lord, mature.
So now, we have to ask, what is maturity? What does it mean to be mature? Well, let's dive into it. The word here is the word or the Greek word. It's telos. It can mean perfect. Again, we talked about mature. The other idea is, it has the idea of fullness behind it. So, James 1:4 says, “Let steadfastness have its full effect.” The idea then is complete. That would be a good word, complete, that you would be complete in Christ, that you would be ready for this year's maturity, that you would let him his Lordship, all of who he is, saturate every area of your life. That's what maturity looks like. Maturity looks like every aspect of my life is growing in greater circles, is more and more submitted to Jesus, more and more aligned to the will and the character of Jesus. It's maturity in Christ. That is, it's the kind of maturity that shows that I am in Christ. It's becoming more like Jesus. That's what it means by mature. You're living out more and more. You're submitting, it's sort of complete submission. The edges of your life are being filled out more and more in a way that honors him.
And we see this throughout the New Testament, that this is what it means to be a Christian, is to pursue these sorts of things. In fact, right here in this letter, Colossians 1:9, Paul prays something like this for the Colossians. He prays for them. Verse 9, he says, “From the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you.” Okay, if Paul's praying for something, that must mean this is a good thing to pray for. So, let's think about it. You pray that you would be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. Here it is, “so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.” Right? I want all my life to please him. That's Paul's prayer. Paul's prayers is I want you Colossians, and for us in the year 2024, we want every aspect of our life to be pleasing to him. That is what maturity looks like. So, when we think about maturity, let me give you a few words to think of. One of the words is complete, right? When I think about maturity, I'm thinking of total obedience. The mature Christian is not one who practices selective obedience. Right? The mature Christian is like man, I want every area of my life to be aligned with God's will.
Now, listen, no one is ever perfect. Right? We still strive. Paul says so as much in Philippians chapter 3, but, but maturity here means that there's no areas that I purposefully neglect. I'm not just saying, oh, that's not what you know. I'm not. I'm an authentic Christian. I can't get into that. No, we're all it in every aspect. We want to follow him, and we do so consistently. So, if you want to say, what does it mean to be mature? One thing is “complete”. Every aspect of my life, I'm trying to submit it to Jesus here. Here's what else maturity looks like. Maturity means that you are an example. Maturity means you are an example. By the way, do you notice so far, I've not said anything about knowledge. I've not said anything about what kind of music you listen to, or what your views are on modern ethics. Now it seems to be actions. Right?
Flip over, if you would, to 1 Thessalonians 1, because what we see is that Paul puts himself together or puts himself forth regularly as an example. In fact, if you want to understand what disciple-making is, disciple-making starts with just being a model of a mature Christian. The other people could look at your life, emulate it, and live in a way that's pleasing to the Lord. That's maturity. So, in 1 Thessalonians 1:6, he's going to say, “And you Thessalonians, became imitators of us and of the Lord. For you received the word in much affliction with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.” Look at that. They followed after Paul's example. Right? They're following after a mature person, and now they're the kind of church that's mature in the midst of suffering, that other churches are following their example. That's what maturity is. It's exemplary. Remember what Paul says 1 Corinthians 11:1. He says what? “Follow me as I follow Christ. Be imitators of me as I am of Christ.” Says something similar in Philippians 3:17. Philippians 3:17 says, “Join in following my example.” Friend, if you're not someone that we could tell other Christians to say, hey, you should talk like them, you should use your time like them. You should read and pray and serve like them. Then you're not walking maturely. But maturity is not this person. I could say, Go do what they're doing, and it would benefit the person following you. Are you someone who is an example of maturity? Someone they could mimic, and they would honor Christ in doing it.
And finally, let me just kind of give you another thing about maturity. Maturity is being complete, the idea we'll talk more about. The second point is the ability to teach others. It's the ability to teach others. Let's flip, if we would, to the book of Hebrews. We're going to jump around a little bit, but we'll stay on this side of our Bible. So, let's go to Hebrews chapter 5 to help us again think about maturity. Because Paul here or not; we don't know who wrote Hebrews here, that would be quite a statement. Right? Here we see the author here is helping us see something about, well, what expectations for mature Christians would be. Hebrews 5:11, Paul has been talking here. I did it again. Good night. The author has been talking about Hebrews chapter 5. He's been talking about Melchizedek, and here he says in chapter 5, verse 11. “About this, we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time, you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food.” So, a mature Christian, according to the Bible, is able to explain the Bible to others and understand the difficult things of the Bible. An immature Christian is someone who can't explain even the most basic things and still needs the most basic things taught to them. That is, those are the biblical standards. Let's put those three together. Right? What is mature, complete obedience, so they're submitting every area of their life to the Lord Jesus. Maturity is there as an example that others could follow? Maturity is they're able to explain the scriptures, to talk to people about the Lord and how to obey him. So, let's take a look at this.
Here's what I want you to think as you're jumping into groups. I kind of want to give a visual representation of this. Here's a little chart that I've put together with the guys in the back. How many did this? So, let's talk about someone. Someone starts as an unbeliever, right there. They can't be mature in Christ, because they're not what? They're not even in Christ. Right? They need to come to know Jesus. What do they need? They need the gospel. They need to repent of their sins, place their trust in Jesus. They need to commit their whole life to Christ. Well, then after that, if we go to the next one here, okay, now there's someone that's a new believer. Okay. What this person needs is they need to learn what we'd call like, the basics. They need to understand the Bible. They need to learn about the character of God. They need to know how to pray, how to walk in holiness, and how to run from sin. And they're fumbling. Right? It's like at their core, they're committed to Jesus, but they need to grow in in their obedience to him, but, but they're really going for it. They're zealous. They're trying. I'm all in for Christ. Then over time, the new believer is a maturing believer, a more steady believer. They're able to identify sin in their life. They're fighting sin in their life the right way. They're able to feed themselves without someone always checking in on them. And they're thinking more and more of life in view of this. This is the lens through which they're viewing life. And then maturity comes here. It's all these things. And then they now become a disciple-maker. They know not only how to do this, they know how to say, follow me as I follow Christ. And they can go back to an unbeliever, back to a new believer, and back to someone who's maturing. And know how to help them. Okay, here's why I put this chart up there. Right? These people are in your group. People are more complicated than boxes, but you get the idea these are the kinds of people that are in your group. And so, you want to be mindful of that. In fact, one of the things you need to think through is like, which one of these am I? Right? Where am I at in this? I mean, there's some overlap between three and four, but I'll tell you this, what's interesting is, the people who are maturing are also like trying to pursue disciple-making. The people that want to be in box three but don't really care about box four, you know where you usually find those people, they're usually in box two, which is just an interesting observation. The people that don't really want to get to four usually end up still acting like a new believer. Stuff to think about. But anyway, let's go on that. Here's my question. If Paul's goal is that people become mature in Christ, right, they'd go from people who are new in the faith to consistently obedient to following Jesus and helping others follow Jesus. Is that your goal? If that's Paul's goal, is that your goal, as well? Because some of you may not realize what we're trying to do with our mid-week groups.
I know a lot of you have been watching the Olympics this week, and you watch random sports like handball, and apparently, like break dancing, that's now an Olympic sport, I guess. And I'm always impressed with the rowing, because it's really amazing that everyone is so in sync. Listen, I put this up because we need some of you to start pulling in the same direction. Some of you don't understand that. That's the goal. And I say that in love like, hey, understand this is what we're trying to do. We're trying to push everyone that way, and we need you to be with us in that, as well.
So, let's go back to Colossians chapter 1, that's our first point. The mission of our fellowship group. What we're trying to accomplish here is maturity, more Christ likeness, and then to the point where they can help others follow Christ. So, how is maturity going to happen? Well, that takes us back to this first point, verse 28 when he says, “Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom that we may present everyone mature in Christ.” What does he start with? At the beginning of this verse is “we proclaim.” So, if they’re such and such so that they're mature in Christ. The way that that happens is we proclaim him. We proclaim Christ. Helping people mature is about proclamation. See, maturity is not about understanding bedtimes and good eating habits. It's not about a balanced checkbook and how to change a tire. It's not even about good arguments against abortion or how to be more patient. All those are good things, but non-Christians can do all those things. Maturity is about proclaiming the truth of Christ. It's about explaining and helping people live out Christ.
Number two on your handout is this: “The means of maturity is truth.” The means of maturity is truth, and in particular, it's the truth of the person of Jesus. It's about helping people understand the person of Christ, the work of Christ, and the kingship of Christ. It's helping us know who Christ is, what Jesus has done, and how we follow Him. And we're not just proclaiming advice when we're helping people mature. We give them Jesus and the truth that comes from him, how to be a disciple of Jesus. And in this passage, we see how this truth is proclaimed. He says, “Him we proclaim.” And he gives some descriptors of this. How is it proclaimed? Well, he says warning and teaching and wisdom.
So, first letter A on your head. How is this truth proclaimed? This truth is proclaimed in warning. So, we're declaring the truth. We're speaking the truth to one another with warning. We're going to look at some other passages here, so, keep your handout visible. We'll keep referring to the text on there. But Paul is saying that, hey, here's how I produce mature people. You ready? I produce mature people by warning those people, by warning them of the danger that is to come. Now, what is this warning? Well, certainly, this could include warning about wrath. This could be warning unbelievers about sin and error, but I think this is about warning believers. I think this is he specifically talked about warning them against false teaching that is heresy, that's not in line with the doctrine of Christ, and he's warning them about behavior, sin, habits that are not fitting for a disciple of Jesus. See, your job. You ready for this?
Let's jump, if we would, go to your left. Let's go to Galatians 6. Your job… you ready for this? It is, if someone in your group is beginning to think something wrong or to regularly act wrong, your job is to warn them. That's how they're going to get mature. Your job is to warn them again against false thinking and against sinful behavior. Want us to see this. So, it's interesting. Galatians 6:1 says, Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you, who are spiritual, should text all your friends about it as quick as you can that you're deeply concerned, that you're praying for them only, only praying for them when you're not texting others about them. Is that what it says there? What it says is you, who are spiritual, should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Well, what's this restoring going to look like? At the very least, he's going to look like talking to them about it. Hey, friend, I know I see this issue in your life. I notice every time we talk about this, you start drifting this way. I notice that that sin pattern that you brought up before it's still lingering. How can I help you with that? We do that. Why? Because we love people. Verse 2, there, it says, “Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.” Man, I want to tell people. I want to help people through their sin. And sometimes what that looks like is helping them identify the sin in their life, helping them see it, helping them talk about it rightly. Listen, you've got friends in your group. My fellowship group, we did a study on anger this summer, and one of the things we talked about is, hey, we need to stop saying I just got frustrated. So that's saying I got frustrated. I need to say I got sinfully angry. Right? We're helping one another identify sin and talk about sin. Rightly so. This is very, very practical.
Let's look at another one. Go to your right, if you would, to 2 Timothy chapter 2. 2 Timothy 2, the very end of the chapter. By the way, just this word is also used in 2 Timothy, where Paul says, hey, if anyone doesn't listen to our letter, don't kick him out. Just warn him as a brother. So that, again, I think, is good evidence this is talking about Christians that we want to warn them. We want to keep them in bounds, as it were. 2 Timothy 2, Listen to how Paul tells the young pastor Timothy to deal with people and how to think with people. So, in 2 Timothy 2:24 he says, “The Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome, but kind to everyone, able to teach patiently, enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance, leading to a knowledge of the truth.” Do you see how he's supposed to be patient and gentle and gracious? So, I think my guess is, in our church, and as would be with any faithful church, there are probably two ways we mess up warning. One of them is, anytime we have an opportunity to warn, we bring out the club, like some of us, we might be tempted like we are always looking to warn people. Right? We're always looking to drop the hammer. When can I really tell them? When do I lay into them? When do I really tell them what the truth is? And then I would say, remember, we're warning because we like love people. We want them to obey. We're not trying to say, let me help them feel the weight of their sin. No, Jesus took the weight of their sin if they're in Christ. But we do with urgency, need to warn them, but we need to, with love, warn them. Right? That's what he's saying, and with patience, warn them. We're supposed to look to ourselves when we warn them, lest we be a hypocrite, be caught in the same sin. So, we don't want to be harsh in our warning. That's one mistake people make. I think the more likely mistake we make in our culture is that we just practice silence. We don't warn people, we don't say anything we you know, that person just said something totally sinful or totally anti-biblical. But I'm going to stay in my lane. You know, I'm not going to dive into that. I'm just going to show grace to that friend. That's not what I need. That's not what you need. If you're someone who loves Jesus and wants to keep following him, I'm sure that you're the kind of person if you're doing something strange and sinful, you want people to tell you. Right? You want people to say, hey, brother, sister, I see this in your life. I want to help you walk in obedience. That's what you want. Silence is not golden in this situation, not saying anything and sitting back does not help. Or, if I could be more pointed, friend, it's not a sign of spirituality to express concern about one person's sin to a whole bunch of people, but never actually talk to that person. That's not spiritual. I think that's just called gossip, and that's not what this is that doesn't help anybody. And so, friend, do you need to be more faithful to warn? Do you need to be one who, who's who seeks like, hey, if someone's messing up, I want to help them. Let me figure it out. Maybe I could partner with my fellowship group leader there. I think, by the way, the people that do this well are also the people that welcome warnings. So, maybe the reason that you're not really good at going to warn a brother about a sin is because you yourself are not the one who's ever going to be fixed by anybody. Think about that. Warning is how maturity happens. Paul says it's the means to which they are mature in Christ.
Here's the second thing for your handout, letter B. Now let's talk about “truth proclaimed in teaching.” Okay, so how is this going to happen? It's going to happen to the proclamation of the truth. Maturity is and it's truth proclaimed not only in warning, but in teaching. So, on your handout there, you see warning everyone and teaching everyone. It's the word dadasco. It's where we get didactic from. Teaching is going to be involved, and it's all kinds of teaching. It's teaching doctrine and it's teaching practice. Like, I love that in Titus chapter 2. You read that the older women are commanded to teach the younger women how to walk in holiness, how to have character, how to love their husbands. Right? If you're going to help the people in your group mature, it's going to involve teaching. Can you explain truth to people? Can you explain the truth of Jesus? Can you explain to them what it looks like to obey Jesus? Now, I know what some of you are thinking right now, some of you just became a little suspicious. And here's why you're saying, wait a second, I'm not a pastor. I can't teach. Petras, that sounds like your job. Why are you trying to farm this out to all of us? Why don't you just go do your work? That's maybe what you're thinking. Let me help you there. Go to Colossians. Let's go back to our chapter. Let's go to Colossians chapter 3. I'm not trying to farm this out. I'm happy to do all the teaching, but I think the Bible says you're supposed to do some, too. So, let's, let's look at it. Colossians chapter 3. I want us to see this very similar phrase, and you tell me if you've heard this passage before, Colossians 3:16 says this. It says, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.” Now let's stop there. That word “you” is in the plural. It's not for the whole church. Let the word of Christ dwell in y'all richly, as they'd say in the south, or yins, as they'd say in the Burg. But anyway, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing, teaching and warning. I wish they kept the word the same. They're teaching and warning one another in all wisdom. Hey, does that sound familiar? That sounds like Colossians 1:28. Doesn't it? That the whole church is supposed to let the Word of God dwell in them? And how do they do it? By teaching each other and by warning each other.
So, let me show you this. Let me show you how we all have a Word ministry. I made another chart because I'm a visual learner. So here we go. At the top, we've got the pastor who's going to preach, the elder's going to preach. And by the way, if you're like, he put himself at the top. Okay, Jesus is further up on the top. So anyway, bear with me. It's an illustration. Okay? So next slide, he's going to preach the Word. Right? And the members of the Church, they're going to believe the Word and apply the Word, that's what they're going to do. But then, the next step, according to Colossians 3:16 is this, they are then going to teach the Word to one another. So, the Word comes here, it's up to the elders to make sure we're exhorting in sound doctrine. We're refuting those who contradict. We're sort of guarding the Word. We're making sure that the right truth, as it were, gets out. And then your job is then to apply it to your own life, and then to teach one another. Isn't that what it says here? “Teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom.” That's what it's supposed to look like. That's how people are going to mature in Christ.
So, are you ready for this? You, Christian, have a teaching ministry. You have a teaching ministry with your fellowship group. You're supposed to be able to explain how to apply the truth. You're supposed to explain the truth to the people in your group. So, friend, let's play out the scenario. Ready? If your fellowship group leader came to you and said, hey, this person's new to the group. I want you to take them to lunch and explain the gospel to them. I want you to take them to the lunch and help them see that Jesus is the Son of God. I want you to take them to lunch and help them see why we believe the Bible, why we think this is the only way of salvation. Could you do it? Hey, I want you to take this new husband out to breakfast or coffee, or meet with them early. And I want you to explain what the Bible says about being a husband, what the Bible says about being a parent, how to manage our money, how to fight sin, how to watch our mouth, how to battle lust. I want you to help them learn how to grow. Could you do it? Because that's how we're going to help people mature, friends. That's why we need to learn our Bibles more, because the spiritual health of the people sitting around us depends on it. By the way. This is why so often I hear people like, you know, oh, there's doctrine, but then there's real practice. Hey, hey, guess what? If you’ve got someone who's struggling with assurance, if you’ve got someone going through a trial that's doubting the Lord, if you've got wondering, like, man, how can I keep praying for my relatives to get saved? Guess what? You're going to need to know to help those people, some doctrine and some really practical things to help them. And so, your job is to help them mature, and you're going to warn them, and then you're going to teach them. You're going to help explain the Word of God to them.
Finally, here's the third thing we're going to see, that “truth is proclaimed with wisdom.” Paul says that. He says in our passage, he's warning everyone, and he's teaching everyone with all wisdom. The same thing is said here in Colossians chapter 3. Now this is hard, right? Because when you get in people's lives, it's messy. People come with complicated things, marital conflict, right there. There are all sorts of issues that people come with. The good news is that God gives wisdom. Right? James, chapter 1, James 1 says that God gives wisdom to those who ask. And so, if it's said in Colossians 1, if it's said again, Colossians 3, we need wisdom. Well, what is this wisdom? Let’s just look at one passage for this. 1 Thessalonians is just to your right. Let's go to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, because I think this wisdom is talking about discernment. It's about knowing when to warn, when to teach, what to say in those situations. By the way, if you've ever been in that situation, like, man, I’ve got to help this person even know what to say. I suggest you pray and ask for wisdom. And here's some of the wisdom you think for you listen to what Paul says here. This is 1 Thessalonians 5:14. I've called this passage discipleship triage, right there. There are certain ways to handle each kind of person. He says, 5:14, “We urge you, brothers, admonish the idol. Admonish the idol. Encourage the faint hearted, help the weak. Be patient with them all.” So, admonish the idle. It's the same word, idea again, warn. Warn the idle. There are those who are idle there, the idea is they're disorderly, they're stubborn, they're not listening. Hey, the people that refuse to listen, you need to warn them severely. You need to like, hey, this is a big deal. You don't have a teachable heart. You need to be teachable.
Well, what's the next person there? It says, encourage the faint hearted. Hey, there are people in your group that their faith is just weak. They struggle with… they're like the guy in Mark 9. “Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief.” They are quickly discouraged. You need to come alongside and remind them. Man, this word is true. Hey, you don't have steel in your bones right now, but I can give you some steel right here. There are some other people who help the weak. I would say that these are the newer Christians, or just the very malnourished, immature Christians. They need help. Okay, you can't just say, hey, you're not reading your Bible. Read it and just throw it at them. You might need to say to these people, hey, let's go and, for the next couple weeks, let's meet. That's all you could do once a week, or once every other week, like, let's text each other daily. Let's just talk about Bible reading. Let's talk about, how about you pray? And I'll pray, and I'll help you through this. Right? Some of you have taken people through Partners. That's kind of what you're doing. Right? You're taking new Christians through this, just to show them the basics of how to live the Christian life. It's important that you view people that way. Right? Some of us are trying to help the stubborn. If you're just trying to come alongside and ease the person, that's like, no, I won't obey. Guess what? They still don't obey. Some of you have discouraged people that you're hammering. Where's your faith, man? And it's like, no, no. They just need someone to come along and help them; be gentle like Christ is with us. That's discernment. That's the kind of wisdom we need. Lord, help me to read these people right even, Lord give me the wisdom that if this person's been walking and disobeying for a long time, to help me understand if they're not a Christian, because if they're not, then I want to help them come to know Christ.
Okay, let's go back to Colossians to wrap this up. Our goal, as you go back to fellowship groups this week, is that people would mature. Right? Who's got a Tuesday night group? Tuesday night group, okay? Wednesday night group, there we go. I see you tomorrow night group, yeah. There you go. The goal then is maturity. As you go back, I want to help those people mature in Christ, and the way that it's going to happen is by them understanding the truth better. And I want to help them understand the truth. Let's get after this now.
Point number three is this. Here's our last question, our last point. Let's talk about “The mindset for maturity is zealous dependence.” The mindset for maturity is zealous dependence. How committed to this should we be? Like, how much of a big deal is this? Like, number two on our list, number four on our list. If I have all my chores done, I could do this list. Like, how committed to this am I? Is this one of those, if I have time, I can do this things? Well, I don't think so. I don't think that's how Paul thought. I don't think that's how he's addressing them in Colossians chapter 3. I don't think the New Testament says this is an opt in, opt out for only the mature believers sort of practice. No, this is something that is your responsibility. It is something that has been given to you from the Lord to care for fellow Christians. And look how Paul approaches it. In verse 29 he says, “For this I toil.” The word toil there has the idea of labor. I sweat. I weary myself over this. I am giving everything I’ve got to present people mature in Christ. Why? Because eternity is at stake. Because how these people live now will matter where they end up forever, and I don't want them to fall away, as we read in Hebrews chapter 3. So, maturity matters. I am toiling in this. And then he doubles down. He gives another word, verse 29 “And for this I toil, struggling,” right? This is the word agonizomai. It's to agonize. It's the effort that's used in athletics, or if you're trying to fight, right, if you're squaring up with someone. You're not just kind of soft. You're going for it. And that's what Paul is saying here. I am given all that I've got for this. He says as much in verse 24; look what he says in 24, “I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake.” Let me ask you, did Paul suffer big time? Right? I mean, one time he was stoned in the city, they threw rocks to the point they thought he was dead. He talks about wild beasts, he talks about a shipwreck, he talks about imprisonment, right? But that is what it will take. This requires a sort of blood, earnest tenacity. I want to serve these people, and I want them to grow.
Friends. If you're going to do this, it is going to be hard. It's hard for several reasons. It's hard because it takes time. It's hard because it takes patience, which always isn't easy for us in our microwave culture. It's hard because people are going to be offended. They grow rather slowly. That's the nature of people. That's the nature of us, as well. Okay, so then why are we supposed to be about this? Well, well, one reason we're about this I,s or one motivation is, like, this is what the Lord's told us to do. So, Matthew 28, remember Matthew 28:19, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them.” That is helping people come to know Jesus, to get saved, and teaching them to observe all that I've commanded. That's helping them grow in their obedience. So one of the reasons we’ve got to do this hard work is because the Lord told us to, it's the commission. He's given us to do, but I think there's some good news here in the second half of this verse. And in another motivation behind it, he says this, “I toil, struggling with all his energy, that he powerfully works within me.” Okay, so this is good news, right? You ready? Because if I'm going to help people, if I'm going to sacrifice time, and I'm not going to focus on myself, I'm going to dive into the scriptures more. He says, I struggle according to “his energy that he works within me.” Right? He uses two different words for God's energy here. So, in the same way that he uses two words for his effort, toil, struggle. He uses two words for God's effort in the process, his energy that's powerfully working within me. Friends, do we realize that when we're after this, that we are committing ourselves to the very thing that the Lord is about? So, we are committing ourselves to seeing people mature in Christ. But that's what God is doing all the time. So, Philippians 1:6, “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion.” He's going to keep working in them. Philippians 2:12, “Work out your salvation.” Why? Because God is at work in you. And so, when we pray to the Lord, say, Lord, help me be patient with this person. Help me to find the time to meet with this person. Help me to be clear and loving but direct with this rebuke or warning I need to give them. When you pray that, you are praying something that the Lord wants to do. He wants to do that. He wants to do that, and he wants to help you help others mature. Listen, let's just think of where we're at in the great narrative of the Bible. At this point, God created us in his image so that we would fill the world with people that reflect his greatness. We have sinned and worshiped ourselves instead. But in Jesus, we can receive not only forgiveness of sins, but we are now being transformed to who we were originally supposed to be. And what God is doing throughout the world is filling the world, not only with converts to his Son, not only with sons and daughters that he has adopted, but he's making his people look more and more like Jesus every day, to reflect his glory. When you commit yourself to helping others grow, you are doing what God is doing. Your God is accomplishing that, and he uses memes, namely his church, fellow saints, to help them grow. So that's good news, friends, because God will give you the strength, I'm sure. If you've been disciple making here for a while, you've seen over and over again how God has given you just the right verse or more patience when you thought you didn't have any left, or that person has just finally turned from that sin after you've been talking to them forever. Right? That is God's grace. This is what he's about. This is what he wants to accomplish again. This is daunting, but we love people because the Lord loves people. And there will certainly be times when you're thinking, I can't do this. I can't help these people. I don't know how to fix a marriage. I don't know how to raise the dead and get unconverted people to get saved. I don't know how to train somebody to disciple others. I can't do this. And you know what, you're right? You can't, but God can. And even better news, God wants to, he wants to do that using you. So, let's be committed to that this year. Let me pray.
Father, we are thankful for this time we've had to think about discipleship and about building up the saints. Lord, I do pray that you would convict us of any self-centeredness when it comes to church. Lord, church is not just something we want to attend. We want to be actively a part of it. We want to be part of it like the way part of the body is connected to the rest of the body. Lord, we want to be faithful to you. Lord, I pray for the people here that this would give clarity, that we'd have clear expectations, that we'd be walking maturely. I pray that your spirit would be at work this year through your Word, that come December, we could look back and rejoice that we've seen people mature, seen people get saved, and even seen people rise up and start investing into others more selflessly and effectively. Lord, we're thankful that you've given us your Word. This is not up to our wisdom to change hearts, but your Word through warning and teaching it, your Word brings life. Lord, we pray that this church would better glorify you, that we would do so by becoming more conformed to your Son, Jesus. And we thank you, God, that as we make this prayer, you not only hear us, but these are the very things you want to do. So, we pray these things in your Son's name. Amen.