要使各人在基督里得到完全 To present everyone mature in Christ

Title: To present everyone mature in Christ
Date: 22 August 2021
Preacher: Rev Enoch Keong

CNA published a report on China curbing for-profit tuition of school curriculum in end July. The curb stipulates “All institutions offering tutoring on school curriculum will be registered as non-profit organizations” The new ruling also contains a “bans on core subject tuition classes on weekends and holidays.” Our young friends in Jubilee might be celebrating if this is to happen in Singapore. For China, what it means is that the private tuition industry that worth S$162 billion is under some very serious threat.

We are not here to dissect and second guess the intentions of the Chinese government in doing such a thing. What I want is to draw our attention to the figure quoted - S$162 billion. No dissecting and second guessing is needed for us to fathom the intentions of the Chinese parents for contributing to the colossal figure. Then, what is true of the Chinese parents is also true of Singaporean parents. No wonder CNA followed up with a commentary page on 11 August entitled, “Can Singapore follow China’s move against the massive private tuition industry? The commentary page has this line that says, “Most parents think: I have to get my child off the best starting block that my time, money and social capital can afford, so they have the best chance of success.” [1] No parent would want their kid to be left behind in our modern competitive societies. I, as a parent myself, share the sentiment.

This fear of being left behind has led Chinese parents to try producing elites out of their children. Elite, says Google, refers to “a select group that is superior in terms of ability or qualities to the rest of a group or society”.

When we read today’s passage, we seem to find in it this fear of being left behind, this wanting to become elites.

I.
We get hints of it from Colossians 1:28. In this verse, Paul uses a word that doesn’t usually carry special meanings 3 times; the word ‘everyone’. Why the emphasis on ‘everyone’? Quite likely, something was brewing in the church, something that had caused the Colossians Christians to believe that salvation would not be happening to everyone. Instead, it is only an elite group out of everyone that will be saved. The rest will finally be left behind. But church is not about elitism. Paul would never allow such an idea to take root in the church. He therefore retorts by mentioning not once, twice but 3 times that God’s saving grace reaches out to everyone.

Paul needed them to know that Jesus wants to save everyone and that as Christians they should be focusing on Jesus, “the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints” (1:26), “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (2:3)

II.
I think Christians today need this reminder on ‘focusing on Jesus’, hearing it the way Paul issued the reminder to the Colossians.

Now all Christians should be serving in one area or another. Serving in church ministries such as worship, shepherding, intercession, IT support, and administration and management. Serving through good works done beyond the church’s walls, such as giving tuition, poverty alleviation, rehabilitation, providing legal services and as caregivers in the areas of physical, mental and emotional wellness. More often than not, we are thankful when we see brothers and sisters contributing in these and other areas. But this is really not the entire picture. Time and again, maybe not today, or perhaps also today, we will see people being unhappy. Unhappy because certain ministries are stronger in term of resources. Unhappy because the church focuses on certain aspects and not what some might think should be the one thing that the church is to sweat it all out. Alongside such sentiments will be a greater approval of people who see the same needs and do the same work. Sometime it leads to the formation of a group who thinks that they are the ones who sees the real need, do the real work, living the way real Christians should be. As to the others who carry different ministry burdens, there tend to be a certain degree of disapproval towards them. In short, a variant kind of elitism sprouted, church unity is compromised and ‘friendliness index’ in church, drops. A good remedy to such unhappiness that would be able to keep any form of elitism at bay would be to heed Paul’s reminder, to focus on Jesus.

III.
From today’s passage, we have to say that to focus on Jesus is not so much a teaching given by Paul. Instead, it is a personal sharing by the apostle. We see this from the way he views suffering. Paul was writing to the Colossians from prison. He was undergoing suffering, suffering for the mission given him by Jesus. Yet he says he is also rejoicing in his suffering. Paul’s response would not be what most of us can identify with. We would say that Paul is, too intense. When it comes to suffering, words that modern man would use in response simply in hearing about suffering would range from dislike to hate, not rejoicing. But for now, let’s not ask why Paul has such a curious response towards suffering. But we ask instead, what was the key thing that led to such a response? The answer has to be that he simply focused on Jesus at all times. This is what we mean when we say that he is doing a sharing here with his readers.

But it isn’t only Paul’s response towards suffering that sounds curious. What he says about the purpose for his suffering is just as disturbing. Paul claims that he was “filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions”. What the phrase does not mean is that there is something deficient about Christ suffering on the cross. The passage immediately above on the preeminence of Christ has made this very clear that the work of redemption is not only complete but also effective. What Paul is therefore filing up is the affliction encountered by the church as it presses on in the task of reconciliation that Christ began.

Let me mention one more thing concerning Paul’s suffering before returning to the message of Colossians. That is, the sufferings Paul is talking about is his sufferings. As much as it is only Paul and no one else is the apostle to the gentiles, so the suffering here is also uniquely his. Paul does mention elsewhere about Christians suffering for the gospel, but I want to point this out in hope to undo a wrong association made by some Christians. That is, suffering is an inevitable part for anyone who shares the gospel. Such a belief has caused some to shy away from gospel work to avoid suffering, which in our time comes in the form of rejection, marginalization and stigmatization. But to think that sharing the gospel inevitably involve suffering, and the more we share the more suffering there will be is to draw a wrong conclusion. We who bring God’s gospel to others have to first recognize that God is the one in control. And that God longs to save.

Save who? Save only those who receive special revelations, just as what some Colossians had chosen to believe? Save those like Paul who qualified to be called a Christian hero? By the way, Paul will never see himself as a hero, but an instrument of God empowered and enabled to do what he is given to do (1:29). Save who then? Everyone. And to be saved is finally to be presented to God mature (or perfect) in Christ.

IV.
I have taken some time this morning only to highlight a verse from the passage that speaks me time and again. But I don’t think the verse about presenting everyone mature in Christ is relevant only to people like pastors and church leaders, but everyone. Let’s us reflect on 3 areas based on what the verse says.

First, the verse reminds us that we ourselves are all to be presented to God mature or perfect. The 2 descriptions can cause some stress am I right? How to know if we are that mature? Perfect, as in without flaw and without blemish; doesn’t even seem possible. Some therefore think that Paul is referring to the time when we will see Christ face to face when he talks about being mature and perfect. But no, he is talking about here and now. Here’s the good news. The English bibles cannot decide between mature and perfect because neither actually expresses what Paul is trying to say in Greek. The word Paul uses connotes a wholehearted devotion to God, to the extent that one can be said to be blameless. One example from the bible would be Noah. It isn’t that Noah’s conduct was flawless. He once overdosed with wine, and because of him things in his family became less than perfec. But Noah was unwavering in his devotion to God seen through his building and riding the ark; so much so that he was considered to be blameless, mature or perfect. So, friends, don’t worry about checking if we are up to the mark, to be mature in Christ is basically to orientate our lives totally toward God. It’s like what we find in the marriage vow, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health the man is to bring himself before the wife and vice versa. That’s being mature according to Paul. And, just like as husbands and wives after saying their vows, need to learn to live out the promises made, which involve a process of growth. So there’s also a process of growth in our becoming mature in Christ.

This brings us to the second point. The growth process should not look like a one man show or something just between me and God. In Col 2:2, Paul emphasizes the need for members of the faith community to “knit together in love”. And only so will they “reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ” God does not come to us with a one size fits all program. Christianity is about the living God leading living persons, each created differently. To see everything that Christ want to show us about himself, we have to be close enough to each other to see the different things that God is also doing to and doing in different persons. I think what Paul says here speaks once again the unhappy people we talk about earlier on. To be unhappy and to cut people off would not finally lead to growth. To grow in Christ, we need be less unhappy, discard any elitist mindset, draw closer to one another, and be one of the member that contributes to the movement of the entire body. In short, we are encouraged to learn greater acceptance, greater appreciation and be a better support to one another.

Finally, by laying emphasis on the word everyone, Paul is saying that Christian can’t be choosy on who we share the gospel with. The passage before ours on the preeminence of Christ is about the Christ who created and saved the entire world. The word everyone in our passage should naturally follows the same understanding to mean everyone and anyone, anyone whom God places within our reach. The first church that I served as a pastor did utreach to the neighboring HDB blocks. Therein was this family that the church used to befriend. When I joined the church, I tried to follow-up on what the church has started. But I faced rejection from the family time and again due to some misunderstanding that has nothing to do with me. But cannot be choosy right? So I tried and tried, and in time God opens their door. After some days, they believed and were baptized. My little experience does not say anything, only that God may just open the door when we choose to be not choosy.

So, 3 things: be mature in Christ, grow into maturity as a loving body of Christ, and be not choosy for the sake of the gospel. May God help us in these areas.
[1]https://www.channelnewsasia.com/commentary/china-tuition-singapore-psle-2096706

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