Cool, all right, well let's turn our Bibles over to Colossians chapter one. Colossians chapter one. And we'll be reading from verse 24 down to verse 29. Passage says, words from the Lord here through Apostle Paul. "Now rejoice in my suffering for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of his body, which is the church, and filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions.

Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God. That is the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to his saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

We proclaim him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose also I labor, striving according to his power, which mightily works within me." Let's take a moment to pray, ask for God's blessing. Our God, we want to pray again, Lord, that as your word is, as we open up your word, that God, you would continue to teach us and guide us and lead us by way of your truth.

But ultimately, Father God, we also pray that you would work so deeply in our hearts and in our minds. For much of the words that we hear, God, perhaps we've heard before, but God, would you ingrain them, would you ultimately use it to affect us deeply and cause us to be transformed into the image of your son?

We thank you, Lord, it's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. Okay. Well, I want to ask you a question here, and the question simply is, have you ever started something only to quit? I'm sure we all have. Have you ever began some kind of endeavor, whether small or big, and then found yourself wanting to just give up and give in?

There are lots of things that we take strides to accomplish only to give up. There are things that are not so substantial and then things that are really important. So there are things like, you know, diet and exercise, and we quit on those every year. You know, it's like an annual thing.

There are things like learning an instrument and trying to strive after gaining some new skill, or it can be, again, more substantial. There are many of us maybe who started a path of education and we were trying to, you know, obtain some kind of degree only to realize, nope, that's not for me.

Or maybe in work, certain things that are, again, more heavy in weight or whatever it may be. Now, those things happen. In our lives, sometimes we start something and then we realize down the road that that's not for us. But the thing about it is, the reason why I bring that up is because in each one of those moments, there is a decision to be made and that decision is incredibly difficult, is it not?

If you guys have ever been in any one of those scenarios where you've invested, at least maybe even like financially, your tuition or something like, you know, tuition for schooling or whatever it may be, or you invested yourself into some kind of relationship, whatever it may be, trying to decide is incredibly difficult.

Yes? Yes. Now, what I'm going to say is this, is that in our minds then, how we make that decision, I believe is pretty uniform. That we all have to consider in trying to accomplish this thing, we have to ask that question, is it worth it? Is it worth me continuing to push myself and is it worth me investing my finances, energy, time, and sweat in order to accomplish this?

And so that's why sometimes it's not a bad decision to quit because, yeah, sometimes circumstantially priorities come into our lives and yes, going to the gym is not worth me actually, let's say, doing something more important, whether it be if you're neglecting family time and you just want extra family time so you let go of this.

Those decisions are made, but in the end, what you're deciding is, what is worth more to me? Does that make sense? In the end, you're trying to decide, is this investment worth it? And that is what I would like to challenge us today. Today as we read this passage, Apostle Paul is talking about a striving, a laboring, a joyful laboring, but nonetheless a still labor.

He is agonizing over something and the thing about it is he's saying to us really loudly, this is all worth it. And so today, perhaps it might be something where we're looking at the passage and you're gaining some kind of crazy new insight, but perhaps today is more like things that you already know, things that you're already striving for.

I want to give a challenge. There are certain things in our lives, yes, it's okay to decide this is not worth it, but there are other things, especially what the scripture is teaching us, we need to see it all the way to the end. We need to make sure that we persevere all the way until not we decide it's okay to quit, but until God relieves us of the responsibility.

And that's why I've entitled this sermon, Until It Is Complete. Until it is complete that we have to gain a continual motivation, we have to gain a sight, a vision, we have to gain a faith perspective where what we see to be our lot, what God has designed for us, what God has willed for us, that these things are so worth it, yes, absolutely worth my time, absolutely worth my sacrifice, absolutely worth everything I've got to give.

So let's look at that passage again. I'm going to look at Colossians chapter one, and we're going to actually look at pretty much the whole of chapter one. I've been doing my devotions through this passage, and these are the things that pretty much stuck out to me and I wanted to share with you.

We're looking at verse 24, and we see Apostle Paul saying this. He says, excuse me, he says, "Now I rejoice in my suffering for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of his body," which is the church, "and filling up what is lacking in Christ's affliction.

Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God, bestowed on me for your benefit." So just right there what you see is Apostle Paul saying, "I am happy to be doing what I'm doing. I am laboring on your behalf. I feel a calling." He knows the role that God has given him, and he is working hard.

So what I'm saying is simply just what's obvious is he's motivated. He's got a purpose. So the first theme and the first point I would like us to understand is he's got a joy for his suffering. He's got a joy for his suffering, and because what I'm saying is he's got that joy for his suffering because he's got a very clear intention.

We're looking at the purpose that Apostle Paul is looking at, and he says in verse 29, if you scroll your eyes down there, we proclaim, oh sorry, verse 29, "For this purpose also I labor, striving according to his power, which mightily works within me." So he says very explicitly, "I have a very clear purpose for which I am striving." What's more, he wants you to know it.

Just scroll your eyes to chapter 2, verse 1, and he says, "For I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf and those who are at Laodicea." So not only is he just working hard, he actually wants you to know he's working hard because what he's going to do is in his own work ethic, he's going to push you, the audience, he's pushing the church to pursue that same purpose.

So the way that you should be thinking about this is kind of like your parents pushing you so hard, right? I don't know what kind of parents you have, but I'm sure all of your parents want the absolute best for you and they'll typically say stuff like, "I want you to do well in school.

Quit messing around." If you're a collegian sometimes and your parents are really heavy on you and saying, "Quit diddle-dying, pick a major, I want you to do well." And then they'll always say that phrase, "Do you know how much we had to work to put you through?" If you've been supported through, "Do you know how much we worked?

Do you know how hard it was?" Honestly for me, I come from an immigrant family, my parents moved, we moved to the US back in 1989 and truthfully now I understand better just the move itself was an incredible risk. I mean just think about that. I mean to have young children and just start, just for the hope, like we have never been there, we've never visited and we have no promise it's going to be better, but just for the prospect that life would be better for you, you are children, here we go.

Take a huge risk to pack their bags and take the whole family to an area they have no friends. And I think about that, I was like, "Would I have ever made that decision?" It's pretty crazy and many people don't make that decision, but sure enough they remind me.

Every time they're trying to motivate me, they'll remind me, "Do you have any idea what risk it took? How much labor?" And then yeah, they remind me of, "You realize we've been working without vacations and all this stuff just for you could have a better opportunity." And then that's why I remember when I was telling them, "Ma, Appa, I want to be an art major." They're like, "No." And then I pick philosophy and they're like, "No." Well I remember during that college years, having that conversation with my parents and them telling me, "I want you to know how much we struggled for you so that you take this seriously." And to tell you truthfully, when I was young, yeah, I looked at that with a sense of like, "Ah, let me decide.

Stop pushing me." But looking back, yeah, it would have been more noble of me as a young man to realize like I have a very unique privilege for our parents to have labored and strived so diligently to provide an opportunity for their children. Likewise, possible Paul saying, "I want you to know how great a struggle I had for you.

So the next things I'm going to say to you, you better take seriously, right? You better take wholeheartedly." And so he continues on. Now in order to add, not to simply add effect, but in order to gain a Paul's perspective, what I'm going to do now is direct your attention to verse three of chapter one.

So Colossians chapter one, verse three, and we'll work down his mentality and his heart behind all this. So chapter one, verse three, he says, "We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, right? Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel, which has come to you, just as in all the world also it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing, even as it has been doing in you also since the day you heard of it and understood the grace of God in truth.

Just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow bondservant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf, and he also informed us of your love in the spirit." So so far, really good. Apostle Paul says, "I've heard of your faith and we're hearing that you heard the truth of the gospel and you received it.

You really took it in to the degree that it's really even taking effect in your life and it's being told of that you love one another, that you're bearing fruit and it's increasing." But I want you to understand this. I'm talking about the intent, purpose, and the drive of Apostle Paul, and what he says is, "You're doing well, and so I'm praying for you." Take a look at verse 9.

"For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased praying for you." So does that strike you as kind of strange? Because typically, if we're talking about an unceasing, unrelenting prayer, we're praying for people who are hurting. Like if you're sick, like really sick, then maybe we'd say things like, "Man, I'm praying for you." But in this scenario, Apostle Paul is saying, "I've heard great things about you and good.

You're growing, but I'm praying for you day and night unceasingly. I'm always thinking about you." This is what I'm saying. It's unusual because Apostle Paul has this drive. He is not only struggling, laboring, but he's on his knees praying for everybody. And so I want to talk to our congregation.

I always feel an incredible sense of privilege to be a part of our congregation because I see it. People are growing. People are learning. They're hungry and stuff. But understand that we will never be satisfied with just simply, "Good, we're members here. Kudos to you." And especially if some of you are sitting here thinking, "Well, I try to read my Bible.

I'm pretty consistent. I pray. I participate at church. Things are good." My challenge today was not simply, "Okay, we're fine." But the challenge is, "Still excel more." First Thessalonians chapter 4, verse 1 and 2 say exactly the same thing. "You have faith, you shall love great. Excel all the more." Apostle Paul here is not satisfied with simply saying, "Good, you heard the gospel." No, he's saying, "I'm striving and laboring and pursuing you with an intention and purpose that you would have more." So what is that more?

What would cause Apostle Paul to keep on praying day and night over a congregation that's already doing well? And that comes in the next passage. Continuing on in verse 9, Apostle Paul says this, "He is praying unceasingly and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord to please him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in," what?

"The knowledge of God, strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience, joyously giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light." Did you see the theme of what he's saying? Did you see the intent?

The purpose? He says very clearly, "I want you to be filled with the knowledge of the will of God in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. I want you to know what pleases him. I want you to increase in the knowledge of God." Three times he is repeating a concept.

And so this is the next point, to be filled with a true understanding of God. To be filled with a true understanding of God. The idea here is if you can just imagine with me a nice pretty jar and just fill in that with the most delicious, most refreshing, just amazing drink and just filling it up to the top.

Because if there is an amazing, delicious drink, you're not going to just fill it like this much and say, "Hmm." No, you're going to want the whole jar. So imagine with me that because that's the kind of picture he's talking about, saying, "I want you to be filled to the degree where you're overflowing." I don't want you to be half full.

I want you to be so full that you're overflowing and it's now producing its fruit. It's having its effect. Now I can sit here and go in detail about the Greek word is plero and all this kind of stuff. But honestly, we understand what he's saying. So what do we need to do?

Take that picture, the jar overflowing with this delicious, very expensive maybe, and whatever it may be, this refreshing drink you're thinking about, pina colada, I don't know. So anyway, you've got this drink. My question to you is, does that describe you? Is that describing you? That's at the heart of what the Apostle Paul is going to be talking about here is for you, are you growing with God in this manner?

Or is the picture you would most relate with is like, "Ah, you know, the water, I'm trying to fill it, but then it evaporates, you know, in my mind. Like I forget. It's like, oh, I'm trying to fill it, but there's all these distractions. And then half the time I'm like looking the other way and it's just kind of just dribbling all over the table, but not necessarily into the cup." I mean, what is actually describing where you are right now?

I say this as an encouragement and challenge to you. This is not new for us as an exhortation that we have to grow in the knowledge of God. But the fact of the matter is that is going to be the spiritual endeavor and struggle which we are going to be laboring and battling and perhaps sometimes stumbling, right?

And now I want you essentially to take a moment to do self-evaluation. What is going to describe you right now? Is it that kind of cup where essentially it's been left out, not filled, and so it's all crusty because when you leave a drink in there and it evaporates, all you get is residue?

So all you have is residue knowledge. Is that you? Now moving aside from the metaphorical, more specifically with God, are you growing with God? Because the fact of the matter is, let me make this point, he is not saying I want you to be filled simply with doctrine. He's not just saying I want you to exercise your brain and make sure you're in academia.

He is saying I want you to know the will of God. Specifically he says I want you to know what pleases Him. I want you to understand Him. So my question to you is are you growing in Him in a way where it's a growing relationship, not so much as like okay, growing relationship, I feel good about Him, but you're actually able to tell me.

You can anticipate what He likes and what He doesn't like, what He's pleased by and what He's not pleased by. You do this all the time with your other relationships. If you're dating, I remember the first couple times like in dates or whatever, like you just are aware, you're very like in tune with the way that they say things about you.

So if she makes, you know, like we're dating and I wear an ugly shirt and she's like, oh, why'd you wear that shirt? I'm like, next time, it's like throw it out. You know, like you're not going to wear it because you're very in tune with what that person likes and doesn't like.

To the degree, those of you guys who have been in a relationship, after a while you go shopping, it's like ooh, they'll love this. Why? Because you know them. You know, there was this time when I was at a brother's house and I respect him so much as a kind of advanced in age and he's a good father and all this kind of stuff.

And at the time I was a younger dad, like newbie dad, and I was like, oh, struggling with when do you know to be stern? When do you know to be merciful? When do you know to be, you know, and that's the typical question. It's like when do I know to do this and do this?

I know you're supposed to, but when? You know? Well, the kids are playing and all that kind of stuff and sure enough when the kids are playing by themselves and the adults are at the table, all of a sudden you hear the bickering like I heard it first, you know?

And then after a while, one of the children comes over and they've got that really whiny, like tight throated, like, you know? And I'm sitting there like, oh, I wonder what the dad's going to do? Because you know, I've been reading those books and the books say like never let your child, you know, have tantrums and you got to snip that complaining thing in the butt and then the Bible says do all things without complaining and grumbling, especially with your annoying voice, you know?

Like, I don't know what he was, I was anticipating he would say, but I was sitting here thinking like, ooh, I think he's going to lay that smack down, right? So I'm all waiting and then the child was like really just tight and everything was so frustrated. The father just leans over and goes, come here, hey, I understand.

And you can just see the child just like melt like, and then he just started like a little tear, you know, like everything and I was just like kind of flabbergasted and then the child just ran off and then it was like everything was okay. And I was just like impressed, kind of flabbergasted all at the same time.

So I had to ask like, oh, how did you think to do that? Like when do you do that? Like when do you, when do you, when do you do, how do you know what you need to do? You know, and I was like, I was just asking him.

And then he was like, and I even said like, you know, like I read in the books, like I remember reading this like how to lead your family in a godly manner and all that kind of stuff. And I was like, I remember in the books you got to like really snip that.

So what do you do? Like is that being too lenient? And he was like, he said something profound to me. He said, you know, yeah, like I read some of those stuff too. And yeah, there's like a lot of good principles and stuff, but I don't know about all that right now, but I know my child.

And at that moment I was just like, huh. And he said, you know, I want to encourage you with something. If you want to be a good husband and a good father, you will never stop growing in an understanding of who your family is. So just keep understanding and knowing exactly how your children operate.

Now the thing about it is they keep growing and still like changing on you. So like the process never ends, you know. And I remember just thinking, wow, so simple, but profound, you know, like I was like mind blown. But the fact of the matter is like, that's what I'm talking about here is you can sit doctrinally and ask like, this is what you do, this is what you do.

And then you can get stuck asking what's your will for me, God? What's your will for me, God? And actually being able to understand what God's will for you is because you don't understand God. And the challenge that I'm asking us to understand is Apostle Paul saying, I want you to understand his inner working, his mind, so that you understand what's pleasing to him.

You understand what's spiritual wisdom, right? This is more than just simple like, give me the do's and don'ts so that it'd be a little bit easier about how to live my life. This is understanding God. And so Apostle Paul says, this is what I'm striving as for, this is what I'm praying for.

I want you to understand God's heart. And in many ways, you guys know God's will. We've asked that question multiple times in our lives, like what is God's will for me? And we've got to answer that. The scripture is chock full of, and this is the will of God for you.

This is the will of God for you that you be sanctified. This is the will of God for you that you be holy. This is the will of God for you that you be so loving because you know God. This is the will of God for you that you build his church.

This is the will of God for you that you be a witness and a glorious light and a testimony to his greatness. That's the will of God for you, right? But here in this passage, what I'm highlighting is that God through Apostle Paul is challenging the church. This is the will of God for you, that you know God, that you strive and seek to understand Christ, that you strive and seek to understand the person, the Savior by which we claim his name.

Yes, we have various things that we endeavor in our lives, and yes, I'm talking about a pretty big topic, just the general knowledge of God, but my question of evaluation to you is, is this what you're striving for without giving up, seeing it to the end? That's the challenge.

I want to give you that motivation. This is the thing that Apostle Paul is saying, "I've labored so hard for you to do. I've literally put myself at risk, being threatened, being persecuted so you can have the gospel. I want you so dearly then to know Christ through this truth." Then our response has got to be, "Then give it to me.

I want to know it. Are you praying to God, 'God, give me knowledge, not just doctrinal knowledge, not just smarts and wit, but I want to know your heart. I want to know what pleases you. I want to know your will. I want to know what you desire.'" I mean, these are the things you need to be praying for.

That's the challenge today. Please take a look here. If you go to chapter two, Colossians chapter two, this is essentially all that he says in an explicit fashion. He says, starting from verse one, "For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the," what?

"riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is," what? "Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments, no worldly philosophy, no mantra of this age, no worldly wisdom." He says, "I want you to have a very simplistic goal for your life.

Seek the treasures in Christ, of knowing him deeply." And in that, in that is where Apostle Paul finds his purpose. That is where we need to find our purpose. This is God's desire for you to have this understanding, this deep, intimate knowledge of the Lord. So we talk about the cup, we talk about being filled, and I want you really to take time this morning to think and evaluate, where am I with that?

To what degree have I been seeking that kind of simplistic desire to know him? So that is the kind of knowledge that we speak about. Now, we got to ask the question, how, right? If we go from empty cup and we want to look to full cup, how? How do we go from not knowing and understanding the will of God to understanding the will of God?

Well, I could give you the simple answer. I could give you the answer that's already in your mind. You know I'm going to say it. Use your Bible, right? But here I want to talk about something that's really important because this is something Jesus mentions. That in order to know God, there has to be a preemptive decision, right?

God says in various passages in the book of Psalms and John chapter 6, who does he reveal his will to? Who does he reveal these mysteries to? Who does God choose to say, "Here, I reveal and give you the understanding of my heart"? There are individuals who've made a preemptive decision.

What is that preemptive decision? That preemptive decision is one who says, "Whatever your will may be, before you even show it to me, I'm committed to do it." It's a heart that is already preconditioned, it's prepped, it's primed. That should God desire to show you various things of how he wants to bless you, to use you, to move in you and work in your life, you're already primed and ready and say, "I will receive that wholeheartedly." Why?

Because I've made a decision, God, whatever your will may be, I will do it. That was the heart of Jesus. Remember in John chapter 6, he says, "I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. This is the will whom sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he's given me." That will is Christ who said, "My food, my sustenance basically, the thing I live off is to do the will of my Father.

He already had coming down that preemptive heart, the condition and disposition. I will do the Father's will, for that is my reward. That's my work, that's my role, and that is my joy." That's the kind of heart we want to have. So by summary of the first two points, essentially we have Apostle Paul who is laboring and striving, working so hard, sacrificing himself, investing himself so that what?

We will be filled with the knowledge of God. And I challenge you, seek it. Seek it and you will find. That is the promise in the scripture. Those who seek with all their heart, God will reveal. I bank on that. I bank on that. Will it be a process?

Will it take some time? Absolutely. But we bank on that. So that's the first part, or the first two points. As we move down this passage though, I want to ask an obvious question. One of these kind of like, you know, it's pretty clear in the passage but we have to ask it.

The question is why the knowledge of God in Christ? What do I mean by that? I could be praying and praying and praying, but I could be praying and praying and praying like for the unity of the church. "My prayer for you day and night is for you to be united, for you to have harmony." Right?

I could be praying and praying and praying that you be more loving people. So Paul could have said, "I'm praying and sacrificing that you know love and you understand love." Right? But the question is, why specifically this idea of being filled with the knowledge of Christ? Again, perhaps something that's going to be obvious from the text, perhaps something that we've been reminded of before, but today is a day of motivation.

Today is a day of saying like, "Let's go with this. Let's really strive for the knowledge of Christ. Let's really not allow any hindrances. Let's not be lazy. Let's not be passive. Let's not think that someone's going to do it for us, but let's go. Let's study the word of God.

Let's pray. Let's ask. Let's seek." Okay? Why? Why the knowledge of God? Because if you think about it, concepts like love, concepts like harmony, concepts like peace, concepts even of your own spiritual well-being, they're all incomplete. They're all incomplete and actually can be detrimental. If what? If not in Christ.

Because Christ is regularly told us in the scriptures, He is the all in all. He is the fullness. He is the collective, complete, like individual of God. And therefore, if it's not in Christ, if that love is not in Christ, it's wrong. It's not just, "It's deficient." It's wrong.

If that love, fellowship, community, peace, everything that we're seeking for, even spiritual well-being, if it's not in the perfection of Christ, it's wrong. Let me give you an example. If I want intimacy, but I want intimacy from anybody, absolutely sinful. I need it where? That intimacy should be only found in the context of my covenant relationship and marriage.

If I want to have that companionship, if I want to enjoy whatever it may be, that are certain things reserved that God has given to us as good things and blessings, and yet I want it outside of the context of God's blessing and the fullness of how God has designed it.

It's wrong. It's not just only a distraction. It's not just only, "Oops, I missed the mark." It could be wrong. So let's walk down this passage once more. And what I would like for us to do is see the completeness of Christ. See how categorically, thinking of the knowledge of Christ is categorically gigantic compared to you just wanting one facet, one blessing, one gift.

Okay? So categorically, Christ is the one who is truly complete, perfect, and therefore in Him we find everything. In Him we find everything right. And therefore, just as the scripture says, we have to do everything through Him, in Him, and by Him. But let's take a look, starting from verse 13.

We left off earlier and read the passage. Now we're starting in verse 13. He says this, and again, I just want you to just take note. Just take note and let's identify together all that is in Christ. The perfections, the gifts, the glories that are in Christ. Verse 13, "For He rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us from the kingdom of His beloved Son." That's deliverance, friends.

"In whom we have redemption and forgiveness of sins." Bingo, we have two things there, redemption and forgiveness. Verse 15, "He is the image of the invisible God." Whoa. He just took it to another level. Jesus Christ is in fact the image, the icon of God, the exact representation. He is the firstborn of all things.

Not to say that He is the first created, that He is preeminent. That He has the inheritance rights. He has the privileges of the firstborn. Verse 16, "For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities.

All things have been created through Him and for Him. He is the creator." Verse 17, "He is before all things. He is eternal." He says, "In Him all things hold together. He's the sustainer." Verse 18, "He is also the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead so that He Himself will come to have," what?

"First place in everything. For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross. Through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven. And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind to engage in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach.

If indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, of which I, Paul, was made a minister." That's a long passage. But that long passage, in summary, says, "Look at how complete you will be in Christ.

Look at all the riches that are in Christ. Look at all the glories that are in Christ." Amen? That's the passage. And that is exactly what Apostle Paul is going to get at. Apostle Paul is saying, "I have a heart for you. I love you." What parent does not want what's best for their children?

Parents will sacrifice all kinds of things for their children. Parents won't even see it as a sacrifice when they give finances for what their children need. And in that same way, just as every good parent wants their children to succeed, go through school and get a good education and have a good family, well, Apostle Paul is going to say, "I want you to succeed.

I want you to be complete. I want you to be whole. And I'm going to give you the exact way I know how for you to be complete in Christ." And so that when you actually understand all that you have in Christ, you too, in natural response should be like, "Hallelujah!

I'm rich! Look at all I have in Christ. I'm complete in Christ. Everything that I'm looking for, all that I'm searching for is here." And that's why Apostle Paul and other pastors of Scripture, do you remember Ephesians chapter 1, he will say, "Blessed be God, the Father of our Lord, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing." Where?

In the heavenly places. In Christ. In Christ, you've been blessed with every blessing you can think about. In Christ, you have everything. Do you believe that? In Christ, you have all that you need and more. But to tell you honestly, as I was going through these passages, I started thinking and thinking and then reflecting on my heart.

And I will confess right now, this is kind of like open confession, an open mic. I'm just kidding. All right. Open confession. I see in myself this mixed bag of emotions. Do I love Christ? Yes, I do. Do I feel like I have all the blessings I have in Christ?

Yes. But at the same time, I feel a level of maybe like wanting, still needing, still desiring. Maybe some of you feel the same way. You feel levels of disappointment, still wanting more. I have Christ, but I'm still looking for what I'm looking for. And that's why so many people, especially the millennials are going out.

They say, "I have Christ, but I'm still trying to find my identity, still trying to find my purpose. I'm still trying to find that thing which will satisfy." So they go out on discovery trips. They go out trying to experience things, but they still don't understand you will not find it anywhere.

You're not going to have Christ plus something and then that will feel sufficient. No, it's going to be Christ and nothing and you will be sufficient in the Lord because He is everything. Because He is perfect. He is the one who will give us the redemption we need, the forgiveness we need, the deliverance.

He is the creator, eternal sustainer. He is everything to us. And that's what we have to understand. And so it is a bit sad, but I do feel a pervasive generational sentiment that they might claim the name of Christ, but they have this feeling of, "I still haven't found what I'm looking for." But what's more, if we really believe this, if we believe with the Apostle Paul that Christ is tremendously, categorically the greatest treasure of all, which Apostle Paul is going to get at, so I want to read it with us actually.

Please go back in your Bibles to Colossians chapter 1 verse 24. And starting from 25, that section we're looking at, look at what he says, "Of this church I have been made a minister according to the stewardship from God, bestowed on me for your benefit so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God." So he's like, "I'm going to see this thing to the end.

I'm going to fulfill my ministry and I'm going to preach. What am I preaching? It's this mystery that's been hidden from the past ages and generations that has been made manifest now to the saints. Brothers and sisters, this is a glorious treasure, hidden treasure. It's been hidden from ages and this is a unique privilege given to you." And then he says this, "To whom God willed to make known what is the what?

Witches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles." Which is what? Which is Christ in you. All that I've just described of Jesus, the one who gives you redemption, the one who gives you forgiveness, the one who is the creator, the one who is the sustainer, he is in you.

He desires to dwell in you. He desires to take place and have his presence in you, to move in you so much so the apostle Paul later on in Galatians chapter 2 will say, "I no longer live but Christ in me." He wants to be close, the God of the universe.

You're rich, you're filthy rich. And yet again, as I go through this passage and I was doing my devotions, I was just so convicted. It doesn't make sense the way I behave. So rich and yet so difficult to let go of the trash of the world. Have you guys seen those TV episodes of hoarders?

It's kind of disgusting, right? These individuals who start mounting like newspaper, trash bags, like doggy biscuits, like everything. They just like mount it up in their house. And I saw this one episode where this lady had pounded up so high, it blocked the front door and these people had to rescue her from her house.

They pulled her out through the window and once they started taking things out, they realized they had over like 10 tons of trash. And you look at that and you're like, "Ew!" Because there's like rats everywhere and cockroaches and like everything is so disgusting. Well, you know why I share that with you is because that's not so far from Christians who know better but cling so dearly, cling so dearly to the trash of this world.

If we truly believe we're rich in Christ, there should be a sentiment by which it's very easy to let go. Now I understand in reality, in the way that we work on our hearts, it's not easy. But if we believe Christ to be so valuable, it should be easy.

I'm going to reference another TV show. Have you guys ever seen Fresh Prince of Bel-Air? Okay. It's a good show. Okay? Just kidding. It's just cheesy stuff. Well, for those of you guys who don't know the young people here, it's a TV show, Will Smith, troublesome child, lives out in Philly.

He gets in trouble so he gets sent out to Uncle Phil. Uncle Phil happens to be a judge and so he's really rich. He has a butler named Jeffrey. So Will, who's a troublesome child, decides to play a prank on Jeffrey. What's the prank? He decides to make him think that he won the lottery by filming the previous week's lottery numbers.

So Jeffrey's sitting there watching and he realizes like, "Oh my gosh. I just won the jackpot." And then all of a sudden, Jeffrey just changes. And he looks over and he grabs this like fancy bottle and he just drops it. And then all of a sudden, he goes on this like montage of like, "I quit.

I quit. I quit. I quit." He's just like jumping around like, "I quit. I quit. I quit." It's one of these kind of more funny and hilarious scenes that I saw on that TV show. Why do I bring that up? Because that makes sense. If you believe that instantaneously through your faith in Christ, you have been afforded an inherent sense with God, you have the maker and the power of the maker in you, you believe that this world has nothing to offer you beyond what Christ can offer you, and you actually believe that, you should be willing to say to the world, "I quit." It doesn't make sense for a butler to be like, "I know you guys boss me around.

I do your laundry. I clean your dirty drawers and stuff. I won the jackpot, but I guess I'll have to stay." No, it doesn't make sense. And that's what I'm challenging us with today. If we truly understand and appreciate the knowledge of Christ and we understand the completeness by which God has designed for us to find our sense of all of that identity, purpose, satisfaction in Christ, then that mentality will actually enable us to have victory over this world.

Amen? It will enable us to have that victory over this world. Now the sad fact of the matter is we do seek for the plus. Oh, sorry. The plus. What I mean by the plus. We do sometimes seek for Christ and the addition. And what's really interesting is in this last week, I just wanted to talk about it because I was so inundated with this last week.

I had a conversation with somebody. My wife had a conversation with somebody. Some of my students had a conversation with somebody. This generation is seeking for something a little bit outside of Christ, but still close to religion and church. What I mean by that is this. Very specifically, there is a generational move right now.

There is a movement going on right now called the New Apostolic Movement where there is a desire to experience the Word of God and an experience with God that is supernatural to the degree where an individual has come up to me and said, "You need to have a prophecy from God.

Let me give you God's prophecy. Have you heard the voice of God?" Now I'm going to say, "Yeah, every time I open this up, every word is the voice of God." But there has been movement to say, "You need to hear. Has God spoken to you? Let me prophesy for you.

Let me give you this special knowledge God has given you." And in my mind, that is nothing more than exactly what the people of Colossae are struggling with. The reason why Epaphras gave and went to visit Apostle Paul was because Colossae, the church, although they were striving, were being attacked by heresy, mysticism, Gnosticism.

You have to have the special knowledge we have to really experience God. You have to have this special experience. And so in this day and age, that stuff still exists. It's an age-old tactic of our enemy to make you think you need to have some kind of special experience.

Now you might not be verbally thinking that. You might not be sitting there thinking, "Oh, I want God to audibly kind of like, I don't know, what's that guy's name? Gordon, you know, from Power Rangers, where his face like appears and says, "I'm speaking to you," you know? Maybe you might not be personally wanting that.

But from confession of mouths of many people, I know that when people hit plateau and when they're stagnant, they want some kind of miracle to come. They want some kind of experience. They want some kind of special attention from God to work and stir them. And that's why the things like the crazy end of the charismatic movement sometimes ends up being so popular, because what do they provide?

Mystical experience. And my admonition to you is here and now we learn there is going to be a sufficiency of knowing the person of Christ, and there is going to be no perfection and satisfaction in your life through mystical experience, but rather the intimate personal knowledge of Christ. That's it.

There is something simplistic about Christianity, and that simplicity comes from a pure, loving faith in my Messiah, my Deliverer, my God. Amen? It should be simplistic in that fashion. And so I give that challenge to you, and now as we can start to conclude, I want to challenge you.

If you do believe this, that Christ is the greatest value of all, He is the hidden treasure, hidden from long ago, but now revealed to us. Yes, the many Jewish people before, they had a veil, and they only saw in part, but now it's been revealed, and you have the privilege of understanding all this.

If you believe this, you can't get away from the example of Paul, who was struck so deep with the grace of Christ. He says, "I can do no other. I am both bound by obligation, and it is my reward, it's my joy. I am, yes, agonizing, and it's my joy.

I'm rejoicing in this." I want to see you complete in Christ. So my admonition is this, many of us are struggling for myself, me, to be consistent, growing, and loving Christ, but now the challenge is, not only are we to do that for ourselves, but the challenge is to have the heart of Apostle Paul, who says, "I want to see this in you." Every single individual in the church, so what does he say?

Let's take a look at that last part of the passage, verse 28. Chapter 1, verse 28. Apostle Paul says this, he says, "We then proclaim him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ for this purpose." This purpose of presenting every man complete in Christ, he says, "I labor," and that word for labor is agonize.

"I agonize even to the degree of exhaustion." He says, "I'm striving according to his power, which mightily works within me." He's teaching, he's proclaiming, he's admonishing, rebuking, everything that he can do in the form of trying to disciple and teach. "I will do for you." This is the greatest purpose Apostle Paul has attached to his life.

"I will exhaust myself to see you complete in Christ." Why? Because that is the greatest treasure of all. "If I love you, that's what I'll do for you." Brothers and sisters, can I say this? It is not just the role of the pastor, the elders, the deacons, and people who are leaders and small group leaders to admonish, teach, and present every man complete.

Scripture, I'm not even going to give a specific risk because every single book of the Bible will say certain things to a certain thing as one. Pray for each other, confess to each other, correct each other, admonish each other, speak truth to each other, sing psalms to each other.

The ministry of presenting one another complete in Christ is the ministry of us all collectively. Take a look at this. I want you to turn over to Ephesians chapter 4, verse 12 through 13. Apostle Paul is going to say that God has so designed the church to fulfill this purpose, to be complete in Christ, that every single member would rise from the low standard that perhaps sometimes we have to the standard of God.

In Ephesians chapter 4, verse 12, it says this, "And he gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, some as pastors, some as teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ until we all attain the unity of the faith, the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature manhood, to the measure and stature which belong to the fullness of Christ." Brothers and sisters, this is our philosophy of the ministry.

We are not simply okay that you sign off on a piece of paper and say, "I'm a member," and then you just coast. We are not okay with that. God is not okay with that. Apostle Paul would never be okay with that. Our Savior Jesus Christ would not be okay with that.

God wants us to mature in every increasing fashion. God wants us to grow step by step from stature to stature. God wants you to strive for more even beyond what you think is possible because yes, it's true, if with you it's not possible, but with God, he will transform you, and that's the confidence I have to do the work I do.

Truthfully speaking, there are moments when ministry is tough and it's frustrating. There are Christians who should know better. I've been a Christian for 10 years, and I just feel like, "Dude, man, you should know better." There are times when people are just resistant. There are times when people, they have weak will.

They're like, "Yes, yes, I would like to, but I can't." There are times the way we think, and it's just all over the place. Sometimes we just are stubborn. Sometimes we're just unwilling to see. Sometimes we make excuses. So many things in terms of the stuff that goes in our minds hinder growing in faith and knowledge, right?

But I take this as a level of confidence. If it was predicated on my know-how to counsel and disciple you, then yes, none of this would work. However, we are being taught today and being motivated, but Christ is truly the fullness of everything. He is the revelation of mystery, and once more, the various passages that we looked at, it says, "He is the wisdom of God.

He is the perfection of God's truth, and therefore, God can perfect all of you. God can radically perform the sinner who is unwilling to bend. God can transform our stubborn hearts. God can transform if you guys struggle with imagination, fantasy, and controlling your thoughts. God through Christ can transform you, amen?

I take that as a huge level of confidence to do ministry. All the counseling is not a lost investment. All the time sitting and praying together, all the time looking at the scripture, none of that is a lost cause. Why? Because my perfect Christ can perfect all of us, amen?

That's where the confidence lies, and so Apostle Paul says, "For that purpose, I struggle. For that purpose, I strive and I labor and I beat myself up almost." We began this sermon by talking about worthy causes we shouldn't give up, worthy causes we shouldn't just let go by the wayside because we have other higher priorities or because we just feel like we don't have the confidence or just because we feel like we lost motivation.

Here and now, Apostle Paul is teaching us worthy causes, seeking completeness in Christ, and then seeking the completeness of brothers and sisters in Christ. Can I share with you personally a little bit here? The last couple of months have been really busy, and I just want to thank all of you because truthfully speaking, I have felt incredibly encouraged being at our church.

Through some of the craziest times of our church, like literally the craziest times of our church, I really felt like, "Man, the church is together and we were striving." I also thank you guys because some of you guys have come up to me and said, "Man, Pastor Mark, you're kind of doing too much." I understand what you're saying, so thank you for considering me.

Thank you for considering the elders. Thank you for considering Pastor Peter. Some of you have gone even overboard and been like, "Hey, you're doing too much. You need a dogging." For speaking truth to me, thank you. Personally sometimes I bought off way more than I can chew, and I do need a delegate, and I do need to trust other brothers and sisters to do the work and all that kind of stuff.

However, we all understand too that here and now, as I was looking at what Apostle Paul was trying to say, I felt so just inspired. He is agonizing and struggling to see the church complete in Christ. To that end, I never want to have an attitude. I never want to end the day of doing church ministry, of working with people and meeting with them and say, "Maybe I just did too much today." No, that is not the right attitude.

I have in my heart a desire to do even more. I have in my heart a desire to not quit. I never want to retire. I never want to give up. I never want to have this attitude before God, "God, I just have too much." Because these are things so worthy that probably it is the right scenario that all of us feel a level of struggling and combating and laboring and agonizing to see our brothers and sisters and the ones we love, our church, collectively complete in Christ.

Amen? I hope the words of God today in this passage, chapter 1 and 2 of Colossians, inspired and challenge you to keep persevering and never give up on that which you already know. Let's seek Christ with all our hearts and let's make sure our brothers are doing the same.

Amen? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we want to thank you so much for the exhortation and challenge today. God, we thank you so much because you're so patient and gracious with us and you keep giving us truth and guidance. And then it's our prayer. Lord, we want it. We want to hear from you and we want your help to make sure that we make the effective change in our lives and we want your help to really walk with perseverance.

And we want to grow in the knowledge of Christ, Lord. We want to know him more, to be intimate with him, to understand his heart because truly, Lord, that is what is to us our reward and what's sweet. Father, I ask that you would help us though because we confess there are many distractions.

We see our weakness. We see sometimes our sin combat that path and that desire. So God, would you work in our hearts through your spirit to make sure that those hurdles are overcome and God, that we might live a life truly that is pleasing unto you. Father, we thank you and devote this time to you.

It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. Let's take some time to pray.