Colossians 1:3-6
We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing-as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth...
The gospel is the good news about the person and work of Jesus Christ. I LOVEthe gospel! I truly believe with all my heart that the gospel is the power of God to make disciples (conversion), and the power of God to mature disciples (sanctification). This message is truly one of the biggest passions of my heart.
I really love this passage in Colossians, for many reasons, but perhaps the greatest is because it so communicates my heart. First off Paul says that he thanks God for the faith and love of the Colossians; and he says the reason they have this faith and love is because of the hope they have laid up in heaven, the hope of Christ, the hope of the gospel. Then after he says that he explains why that is the case.
When the gospel comes in it bears fruit and increases. Paul says, “the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing-as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth...” So, someone becomes a Christian when they hear the gospel and understand it (truly understand it which leads to repentance and faith). And from that day on it bears fruit not only in them but also through them and increases out into the world. In other words, when the gospel does a work in somebody, it also does a work out of somebody. This is what is called Gospel In ~ Gospel Out.
Most new Christians are always excited and eager to talk about Jesus. Why is that? Because they recognize the profound work that God is doing in them through the gospel. They want to talk about what excites them. They want to talk about what they care about. But, with that in mind, many of us think of this as merely a passing phase. “Sure that guy is on fire for Jesus now, but he’ll cool off after a while.” And if we’re honest that usually happens. But why?! I think it is because we stop being amazed by grace. We stop marveling at the gospel and then we become cold, sleepy Christians who keep the amazing news about the person and work of Jesus Christ to ourselves.
So, what are you? Are you a cold, sleepy Christian? Or are you an excited Christian who burns with a white hot passion for the gospel? So many churches are full of nominal and sleepy Christians; so much so that the Christians who are on fire for the Lord feel out of place. I pray that God would revive our churches and give us new passion for the gospel. Tim Keller says, “In a revival, sleepy Christians wake up, nominal Christians get converted, and non-Christians get reached… When sleepy and nominal Christians get revived, attractive and bold in their witness, people who would never have believed before begin to get converted.” The gospel goes in and the gospel goes out; it truly bears fruit and increases.
So what are some things we can do to pull us out of our slumber?
1. Pray
2. Read, meditate on, and memorize Scripture
3. Sit under the preached Word
4. Gather with God’s people and celebrate the gospel
5. Preach the gospel to yourself over and over again
6. Always keep an ongoing cycle of confession and repentance going. This requires you to be in community with some people. These should be close gospel-centered friendships, and of course your spouse.
7. Share the gospel with and love and serve the people around you.
8. Seek to meet new people who you can build relationships with, share the gospel with, invite to church, etc…
Number eight is by far the hardest one for me. I get so caught up in my day to day routine that I forget to slow down long enough to engage the people around me when I’m out and about. I heard a new church planter say the other day that he and his core group committed themselves to meeting 7-14 new people a week (each) and sharing the gospel with them and inviting them to church. If everybody in the church committed themselves to doing this I believe we would really start to see the kind of thing that Tim Keller was talking about (Lord willing).
I don’t know about you, but I’m not content with being a cold, sleepy Christian. I want to fight for gospel amazement. I want to be a part of a church that has the kind of faith and love that Paul talks about in Colossians. I want the gospel to work in and out of me. I want to pour out my life for the fame of Jesus among all peoples. What about you?
