Reaching Our World in the Power of God -- Colossians 1:28-29
In Bible Studies - Posted on Fri 28th August 2009 by Pastor Lorenz
Alexander the Great was king of Macedonia and ruler of Greece. He conquered the territories of Turkey, Syria, Egypt, Iraq, and Iran, and almost as an afterthought he conquered Palestine that strategic area between Syria and Egypt. Alexander was a brilliant military strategist, and it is because of his military strategy that he was able to win so many battles and expand his empire throughout the Mediterranean and Middle East. One of Alexander’s strategies was the use of maximum force. Today we call this strategy “shock and awe”. Shock and awe is when you assemble all your resources and unleash the maximum power to win the battle. A definition of shock and awe is use of overwhelming power to paralyze the enemy and destroy its will to fight. Alexander the Great used shock and awe to overwhelm his enemies and he built one of the largest empires in the history of the world.
Alexander used shock and awe but his power was nothing compared to the power of God when God used shock and awe against the power of darkness. The awesome power of God was unleashed in the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus’ death and resurrection was the death blow against sin, death, and Satan. But God’s war against darkness is not yet over. We still have battles to fight. We are still in a war against the powers of darkness. Jesus said, “I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it (Matthew 16:18).” In this verse Jesus pictures death as an enemy against which his church does battle. Our war with death is a war against evil—a war against the power of Satan. Our fight is to help people escape the power of Satan. Our mission is to go into enemy territory and rescue those who are trapped in the kingdom of darkness. But we cannot fight the powers of darkness in our own power. We must fight in the power of God.
We are soldiers in Jesus’ army. To win this war we must be trained and prepared to go into battle, but the only way we can successfully fight against Satan and help people escape the darkness and find Jesus as Savior is to fight in the awesome and overwhelming power of God. We must preach Jesus to every person according to God’s power. The Bible says:
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 meOur mission is to preach Jesus to every person according to God’s power.
(Colossians 1:28-29).
Every great leader has a purpose or a mission. The mission of Alexander the Great was to conquer Persia and expand his empire to the Indian Ocean. Alexander had a mission. He also had a strategy and an array of tactics.
To be successful we too must know our mission, we must have a strategy, and we must employ tactics. A mission statement is a description of an organization’s purpose. A mission statement describes why the organization exists. Strategy is the positioning and arrangement of resources to achieve the mission. Tactics are the use of resources to carry out the strategy in day-to-day situations.
First, we need to know our mission. The mission of Trinity Church is to know Jesus as Savior, serve him, and proclaim him. We have a similar statement in our Constitution. We try to help people know and remember the purpose and mission of our church by printing that mission statement on our bulletins. Our mission is clear—to know Jesus as Savior, serve him, and proclaim him.
Our mission is clear, but do we have a strategy? We have defined strategy as: the positioning and arrangement of resources to achieve the mission. But neither our mission statement nor our purpose statement give us a strategy. Fortunately the Bible gives us a strategy. “We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ (Colossians 1:28).”
We must preach Jesus to every person. We could add a strategy to our mission statement and purpose statement by saying: The mission of Trinity Church is to know Jesus as Savior, serve him, and proclaim him to every person through worship, instruction, edification, evangelism, and social concern. Now we have a strategy a “how”. How will we know Jesus as Savior, serve him, and proclaim him? --through worship, instruction, edification, evangelism, and social concern.
I’ve already mentioned that part of Alexander’s strategy was to use maximum force. Another aspect of his strategy was to stay focused.
As king of Macedonia, ruler over Greece, ruler over an ever expanding empire, and the commanding general of a huge army of, Alexander had many concerns. Once when Alexander and his army were fighting in far away Romania the Greeks of Athens started a rebellion against Alexander’s rule and he had to quickly go to Greece to quell the rebellion. Alexander lived with the daily pressure of administrative and political concerns at home and in the many foreign cities he had conquered. His vast army of Macedonian and foreign soldiers had to be fed and encouraged to remain loyal. Alexander had much more to handle then just winning the next battle, but he did not allow these other concerns to divert his mission to defeat the Persians. He stayed focused on winning the battle so that he might ultimately win the war.
Jesus too had many concerns. During his three short years of ministry, his church grew into thousands of followers. These new converts needed to be cared for spiritually. He was their shepherd and he needed to feed them the word of God and protect them from false teaching. Jesus had many enemies. Some of his enemies were religious leaders and some of his enemies were political leaders. Yet with all his concerns Jesus stayed focused on his main concern and that concern was to reach the lost and rescue them from the power of darkness.
Once when Jesus was out in the fields praying his disciples found him and told him about the people who needed him.
In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there. Simon and his companions searched for Him; they found Him, and said to Him, “Everyone is looking for You.” He said to them, “Let us go somewhere else to the towns nearby, so that I may preach there also; for that is what I came for.” (Mark 1:35-38)When Jesus said, “Let us go somewhere else so that I may preach there also.” He was not saying that he did not care about those to whom he had already preached. He cared about them but he believed that no one should hear the Gospel twice until everyone has had a chance to hear it once. Jesus stayed focused. His strategy was to reach as many people as possible. Paul followed Jesus’ strategy. Paul said, “We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ (Colossians 1:28).”
We too must follow Jesus strategy. We must stay focused on our mission and use every available resource to reach as many people as possible. We must stay focused in our worship. We purposefully and strategically shape our worship to make it appealing to those who need Jesus. Yes, the music must please and honor God. Yes, the worship must build up the saints, but we must also keep in mind that our worship must appeal to those who need Jesus. We must stay focused. We must stay focused on Jesus’ mission in our worship and in our teaching. In all my sermons I try to remember that some in the audience do not know Jesus. Maybe it's a young person or a visitor or maybe someone who has been coming to church for many years but never given their heart to Jesus.
Sunday school teachers you must always remember that some of your students are on the broad road that leads to destruction and it’s your responsibility to help them get off that road and help them get on the straight and narrow path that leads to life. Yes you must teach those who know Jesus but you must also reach those who need Jesus. In everything we do we must stay focused “so that we may present every man complete in Christ.”
Our mission is to preach Jesus. Our strategy is to reach people through our worship, instruction, edification, evangelism, and social concern. Now that we have a strategy, we also need tactics. What about our day-to-day tactics? What tactics will we employ as we follow our strategy so as to carry out our mission? How we carry out worship, instruction, edification, evangelism, and social concern are the tactics we use to carry out our mission of knowing, serving, and proclaiming Jesus.
When Alexander finally reached the last stage of his war with Persia he lined up his army to fight King Darius III at what is called the Battle of Issus. This battle took place in what is today the southeast corner of Turkey near the border with Syria. Alexander was vastly outnumbered. King Darius the III had an army of 600,000 men. Alexander had a much smaller army. Alexander only had 75,000 men. Alexander was outnumbered almost four to one. But Alexander had one advantage that Darius didn’t have. Alexander had his loyal and well-trained Macedonians who had been fighting with him for the last ten years.
Alexander put his army into two groups one on his right and one on his left. The group on his right flank was his trusted and well-seasoned troops from Macedonia. The troops in his left flank were made up of soldiers from other countries. He stationed himself and his Royal Bodyguards in the middle. The troops on his right, those from Macedonia, were his best fighters and most loyal soldiers. He had many other soldiers from other places, but he could not always depend on these foreign troops. All his trust was in the men who were from Macedonia. Very early in the battle Alexander’s Macedonian troops on his right flank overpowered the Persian troops and so he redirected the Macedonians to attack King Darius who was positioned at the center of the Persian forces. Against these hardened soldiers Darius was forced to retreat and Alexander won the battle and as a result won the war with Persia.
Alexander won that battle because of his tactic to keep the Macedonians together. If he had mixed them in with the other soldiers, they would have not had the power to overcome Darius overwhelming forces. Alexander’s tactic decision to keep most of them together as a strong and powerful force gave him the victory.
Alexander had faith in his soldiers from Macedonia. We too need to have faith but we do not trust in human power. We trust in God’s power. In our battle for the hearts and minds of people who need Jesus, we depend on the power of God. Paul said, “For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me (Colossians 1:29).”
We preach Jesus according to God’s power. Our most important tactic is to fight in God’s power. We must have a mission—to preach Jesus. We have a strategy—to preach Jesus to all people through worship, instruction, edification, evangelism and social concern. And we have a tactic—to preach Jesus to all people through worship, instruction, edification, evangelism and social concern or strategy in the power of God.
We need people to work the strategy. We need finances. We need programs and ministries, but the most important tactic is to preach, teach, worship, and reach out in the power of God. Jesus says to us this morning:
Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples (John 15:4-8).Without the power of God we can do nothing, but in the power of God we will bear much fruit and prove to be Jesus’ disciples. We have a plan. Now we must put the plan into motion. We must pray for God’s power. Without his power all our plans are useless. Let us seek God and his power so that we might win the battle to defeat the kingdom of darkness and help bring men and women into the light of God’s glorious kingdom.
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