A Man-Centered Gospel Leads To Man-Centered Ministry
I hope you took the time to read the last post on how We Can't Rise Above Our Worldview...Or Our God-view. If not, please take a few minutes to read it, as this post will be very much connected. Let’s go back to Colossians 1 where Paul, under the leading of the Holy Spirit, gives a clear and astounding description of the preeminence of Christ. Colossians 1:15-20. We’ll pick up in verse 21, where Paul emphasizes our own state and then the driving force behind his ministry…
Col 1:21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds,
Col 1:22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,
Col 1:23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.
Col 1:24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church,
Col 1:25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known,
Col 1:26 the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints.
Col 1:27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Col 1:28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.
Col 1:29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.
—Colossians 1:21-29
As we noted in the last post, we were alienated and hostile to God, busy doing evil deeds (v21). He reconciles us to Himself (v22). Now, although we may not realize it, our worldview and how we view God will very much impact how we read verse 23 and the following verses. It’s possible for us to look at verses 23 & 24 as Paul calling us to remain steadfast, to make sure by our own merit we ‘make’ the ‘holy and blameless’ part of verse 22 true. It’s also possible for us to see Paul as declaring himself a minister of the gospel and his willingness to suffer as a kind of ‘Look what I’m doing’ statement. That would be man-centered on both sides of things. However, if we see the things listed in verse 23 as fruit the Holy Spirit produces in us, then we’ll look to God as the driving force in all areas. We should then be able to see verse 24 in the context Paul is merely trying to model what he saw Christ do for the church — namely endure suffering and lay down his life. Lest we think Paul is trying to claim any credit for this, we can continue reading. In verse 25 we see his recognition that he became a minister of the gospel according to the stewardship of God given to him. We see that his ministry is to make the word of God fully known, which he acknowledges was a mystery previously hidden but now revealed by God to the saints in verse 26. God-centered, not man-centered. We see in verse 27 how God chose to make known the riches of His glory amongst the Gentiles and how those who are ‘in Christ’ have the hope of this glory. God-centered, not man-centered. In verses 28-29 we see how Paul also credits God as giving him the energy to toil in proclaiming the name of Christ, both warning and teaching, with the hope of presenting folks as mature in Christ. That implies growth in Christ, which is also God-centered, not man-centered.
Why is this important? We see, both in this passage and other writings attributed to Paul, how he is unwavering in emphasizing God’s role in all parts of the gospel. By highlighting God’s work & choices at all points and in all ways, he deemphasizes his own choices and ability. This results in an attitude and lifestyle which is primarily focused on the building up of God’s kingdom both in numbers of souls (through evangelism) and the maturing of those souls (through discipleship). Paul says even his desire to do that is all God’s doing and according to the stewardship God has given to him. The fruit is someone who sees the purpose of their very existence as to first glorify God and second to serve His church. On the other hand, if we wander into a more man-centered gospel, we try to claim some of the credit along the way. We lean towards a ‘Look at what I’m doing for God’ kind of mindset, which is why we can read verses 23-24 in the first way I laid out above. It’s also common for professing Christians who subscribe to a more man-centered gospel to think more about what they are getting out of the church, rather than what they can do to serve God’s people. If you have a group of people who think in this way, then it’s easy for a church to fall into man-centered ministry, because we are driven by our man-centered gospel. As I noted in the last post, we simply can’t rise above our worldview or God-view!