A churchwarden once said to me: ‘I don’t believe in thrusting my opinions down peoples’ throats, I wait for them to ask me why I’m different.’ I was tempted to ask him how often they did that, but managed to bite my tongue!
We have a message that people need and that God longs for them to hear. We have been given a secret – a mystery that they need to know and understand. This word ‘mystery’ is a key word in Colossians. Today most people think the mystery is why anyone is involved with church. They desperately need to know. ‘The mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed’ (Col. 1:26). ‘God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery’ (Col. 1:27).
What is this mystery? It is nothing less than the hope of eternal life and how we can obtain this. Colossians 1:27 gives us this secret: ‘Christ is in you, the hope of glory.’
These are riches indeed – far better than knowing the secret numbers for the national lottery or any other secrets of material success. ‘My purpose is … so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God’ (Col. 2:2).
We know the secret of God Himself – namely ‘Christ’. Doesn’t that thrill you? It obviously thrilled Paul. The Greek word Paul uses for ‘message’ is very interesting, it is ‘Logos’, meaning the WORD. At the beginning of John’s version of the gospel, Jesus is described as being the ‘Word’.
In Colossians Paul describes this mystery, this secret, in no uncertain terms. It is well worth reading chapter 1 verses 15 –20.
Colossians 1:16 says: ‘By him all things were created’. Jesus is God, the creator who made this world – this universe. The Lord Jesus is described as Lord, JAHWEH, because He created and cares for everyone and everything. Note in verse 16 that ‘all things were created by him and for him’.
This Jesus has overcome the divide we all have between God and ourselves. By coming and dying for us on that cross He took on Himself our sin. It is only because of who He is that He could achieve this. ‘He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation – if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel’ (Col. 1:22-23).
Our sin has created a barrier between God and us, which religion cannot remove. However, the sinless Lord Jesus did just that when He died on our behalf. Paul keeps coming back to this. ‘When you were dead in your sins … God made you alive with Christ’ (Col. 2:13). That is our secret – Jesus is God, and He can give us eternal life.
This is our message: Jesus alone is Lord of creation. Jesus alone can forgive us, and present us as forgiven people before His Father, because He alone was qualified to take our sins on Himself on that cross. He alone can give us His Spirit to empower us to live as God wants.
Best way or only way?
Contrast this message with what is happening in so many of our churches, where many teachers seem to be unclear. Wallace Benn, former Bishop of Lewes, was on a Church Selection Committee, selecting future Lay Readers. He asked all the candidates: ‘Do you think Jesus is the best way to God, or do you think that Jesus is the only way to God?’ All 12 answered: ‘The best way to God’. How could any Christian, let alone potential leaders, belittle the Lord Jesus in such a way?
The apostles didn’t muddle anyone, they knew who Jesus was. Peter, speaking to the Jewish rulers of the Sanhedrin, which included Annas the High Priest and Caiaphas, said: ‘Salvation is found in no-one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved’ (Acts 4:12).
Consequently, the following must be our prayer: ‘That we may proclaim the mystery of Christ’ (Col. 4:3). This plea is not just for church leaders; it is for every one of us. We do not become Christians and choose whether we want to be involved in sharing Christ. Christ chose us to be Christians in order that we should be His representatives.
People think of evangelism as big meetings, and special people such as Billy Graham. Please rethink that idea; evangelism is primarily one person talking to another to explain the gospel, lending them a book or inviting them to hear someone else so that they can hear and understand this mystery.
Handpicked, one by one
D.L. Moody, a great church leader last century, said: ‘The way to reach the masses is one by one’. Charles Spurgeon similarly said: ‘The best fruit is handpicked’. So, let us make the most of every opportunity we have to share this gospel, let us look for openings.
Working as a surgeon I met many patients who were having to face difficult times. I loved to ask them: ‘Do you have a faith that helps you, or are you unsure about such things?’ Many have responded: ‘I wish I had’, or: ‘I’m not sure’. Such an opener reveals that many people are desperately searching, usually beneath the surface, for answers to the mystery of life.
One of the advantages of going to an Anglican church is that many people attend who are unsure about Christian things. After befriending such visitors and gaining their confidence by chatting over coffee, I love to ask them casually: ‘Are you a convinced Christian yourself or are you still uncertain about these things?’ It is striking how many are openly uncertain and would like the opportunity to get some answers.
Clarity needed
Very few people understand the gospel today. Even worse, most Christians can’t explain it clearly. Paul recognised the need for clarity so that his hearers could understand and wrote: ‘Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should’ (Col. 4:4).
One Saturday, I was sitting in the lounge at home preparing a talk. My Bible, commentaries and some other books were lying about. The doorbell went and there was a representative for cable telephones and television. He came into the lounge, sat down and discussed what he had to offer. He noticed the books and said:
‘I see you are religious. Do you know that you can have the Christian channel free?’
‘Oh,’ I replied, ‘that’s interesting. Are you interested in Christian things yourself?’
‘Well, sort of. I would call myself a Christian but I don’t go to church. I feel such things are personal and private.’
‘Yes, I do understand – but there is a major problem with that view, it means that people do not discuss these things much, so it is difficult to be sure that they understand them correctly.’
I then asked him: ‘Are you sure that you have got these things clear yourself?’
‘I hope so,’ was his rather uncertain response.
It was perfectly obvious from this reply that he was not clear, so I then asked: ‘Would you be offended if I briefly summarise what Jesus taught so that you can check out your ideas?’
Whether it was because he was keen to keep in with me, or because deep down he wanted to know I am not sure, but he replied: ‘That would be interesting.’
So I started to explain the very fundamentals using the ‘Potted Gospel’ approach.
‘The God who created this world did so through Jesus, and God gave all authority in this world to Jesus. He is our eternal King. The problem comes with us when we decide that we don’t want Jesus to be God, we want to live independently of Him. In fact we all naturally want to put ourselves in His place. We want to put ourselves at the centre and not have Jesus there. We want to decide what is right or wrong and we want to live as if God doesn’t matter.’
At this point the salesman interjected: ‘Yes, that is true.’ He continued to listen intently as the story continued,
‘The Christian good news in summary is that God has decreed that anyone who returns to live under the authority of Jesus, is regarded by God as if he or she has never rebelled. They are given a complete pardon and even more are accepted as part of God’s personal family, with all the benefits that that involves. However if people persist in rejecting their creator, in that they won’t allow Jesus to be their Lord, they will face eternal rejection by God Himself. The stakes are high.’
‘I have never heard it talked in terms like that, but it does make sense,’ he exclaimed.
Then for about 30 minutes we discussed these things. Before he left I asked him if I could give him a copy of my book Cure For Life. ‘This explains in more detail the claims that Jesus made, what hard evidence there is to support those claims, and then in essence what He taught.’
‘I would like that,’ he replied. ‘I promise I will read it and will come back to let you know what I make of it.’
Only time will tell how that man will respond to the claims of Jesus, but he will make a decision about Him, everybody has to. There are really only two possible paths to take; either accept what Jesus says and go along with Him, or reject Him. To postpone thinking about Him is to reject Him. There are of course some who put on a pretence of accepting the Christian faith, but Jesus is very aware whether people are trying to live under His authority and are set to do God’s will, or whether it is a sham.
Note that we will not be effective if we are preaching at them, the aim is to get into a discussion with questions and answers.
