Colossians 1:27
To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
Still, on the subject of being made a minister, Paul is describing the work of a minister of the Word. In verses 25-26 He is a minister of the mystery, in our verse today he is a minister of majesty. Or as the Bible better states it “The riches of the glory of this mystery.”
“God would make known”
The ones spoken of are the saints of God. Read verse 26 with verse 27and that is evident. God would have us know more and more of the glory and riches of this gospel that we have believed. He would have us know more and more about the “image of his likeness,” “the Son of God,” Jesus Christ. This is akin to what Peter plainly states that we should “add to our faith” knowledge. Imagine a man who received a massive inheritance, containing houses, lands, barns, and bank accounts but he never went to see the houses, never surveyed the land, never saw the storehouse in the barns, and never visited the bank or withdrew from one account. He received this inheritance because he was in the family, it was surely his and he had every right but decided it was too far a trip, too hard a journey so he worked his 9-5 and lived on his own means. We would call him a fool among fools. Sadly we have described many that have come to faith in Jesus Christ, have become joint heirs with him, and have riches and glory, like peace, joy, and satisfaction, a bank of promises. Instead of making use of the riches being in the family has afforded us, we live on our means. We work our 9-5’s and live on what we can do for ourselves, and do without the riches of the glory of Jesus Christ. This is not what God wants for you! To you, He “would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles.” God’s will for the saints begins at salvation but certainly doesn’t end there He wants you to “be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.” [Ephesians 3:18-19]
How does God do this? By the ministers of his word. God had made Paul a minister of the word so that he could first of all “rightly divide” it [Vs.25-26] and secondly so that Christ could be lifted up not only as the forgiveness of sins but as the fulness of the saints. This is the work of us as ministers of the Word to preach Jesus to the sinners as the forgiveness of sin and preach Jesus to the saints as their fulness, “He is the fulness of all things.”
So many Christians are empty because they have been taught that they are enough, or that God would have them to be successful, or many other false teachings. Others are just ignorant because they have never had a minister of the Word to teach them at all. The riches of the glory spoken of here are plainly stated “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” That is the wonder of being one of his, not just that we are in him [Col 1:2] but that he is in us. Us being in him tells us of our position, but him being in us tells us of the “power that now worketh within us.” Here is a paraphrase of the description given by Bro. Guy H. King. “There is the poker in the fire but notice the fire in the poker as it glows, there is the sponge in the water, but notice the water in the sponge as it becomes saturated, there are our bodies in the air but notice the air our bodies, as we breathe.” We are in Christ that is a wonderful truth, but just as wonderful if not greater, he is in me! If it were only true that I was in him it would be enough to save me, but he is not just concerned with our future salvation from Sin, he is concerned with our present victory over sin that is done by “Christ in us.” We have in us the Holy Spirit of God, convicting when needed, comforting when needed, empowering when needed, calming when needed, and stirring when needed. This is the riches of the glory of the mystery to the saints. That Jesus is not only your savior, but he is also your sustainer. The same faith you were saved through is the same faith you will strive by, and succeed by; “Through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.” [Hebrews 11:33-34]
As a minister of His Word, we must lift up Jesus as the Salvation of sinners, and the sustainer of the saints, both are true, Us in Christ and Christ in us. Many sinners have walked away from Christ because they assumed a half-truth, that they cannot possibly live the Christian life. That is true but dear friend if you will be in Christ by faith he will be in you! Many saints have nearly quit because of their inability to serve him, but it is because they have been drawing from the wrong source, forsake the busted cisterns of self-reliance, and rely upon him whose strength is made perfect in our weaknesses! If you are struggling with sin this day, look to him, He is the hope of glory, If you are empty this morning, he is “The fulness of all things.” Dear friend Jesus is our all in all. This is the Jesus we must preach if we want to be “Made a minister.”