Missional EvangelismSýnishorn

Present Everyone Fully Mature In Christ.

How about those Colossians! Paul is writing to them from prison, probably in the late 50s AD. And, “the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world” (v6). Sensational! But that isn’t any reason to sit back and rest or to celebrate. Paul’s response? “For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you” (v9). He’s particularly asking God to, “fill (them) with the knowledge of His will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives”. (v9)

Why?

So that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of His holy people in the kingdom of light. (v10-12) 

The Colossians might have been shocked by this posture of Paul’s. It could have been like bracing cold water splashed in the face on a hot day! There is more than what they’ve experienced. Paul shares some of the promise of the Gospel with them, but with this proviso – “If you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel”. (v23)

The culmination of this section raises the stakes for the successful Colossians, as it continues to do for us, today.

Paul reiterates his convictions, and, in so doing, models for us the focus and commitment of missional evangelism: 

He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me. (v28,29)