Working Hard for the Gospel

Kids Words: Gospel, Suffering, Joy, Everyone

TITLE: WORKING HARD FOR THE GOSPEL

Points:

1. Making God’s Word Fully Known
2. Proclaiming Christ to Everyone

Main Idea: No sacrifice is too great for the gospel, and therefore we should work hard for the gospel as well.

Passage: Colossians 1:24–29

Outline with Quotes

1. Making God’s Word Fully Known (vv.24-27)

Quotes:

"A close identification develops between Christ and the Church through suffering. Before Paul’s Damascus Road encounter, Paul had been making Christ suffer in the people he was persecuting. Christ’s first words to Saul made this clear: “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” (Acts 9:4). Jesus was being persecuted in the bodies of his followers. However, immediately after Paul’s conversion Jesus said, “I will show him how much he must suffer for my name” (9:16). Now Paul would suffer, and Christ would suffer in him." – Hughes

"As we understand our own trials and sufferings in this light, we discover that, far from disqualifying us from experiencing and proclaiming the gospel, they actually qualify us for it. God uses the hardest and most shameful experiences of our lives to soften us and bring us to fuller understanding of his surpassing benefits. In our isolation from the world’s provision, we learn that we are fully satisfied when he is our portion (Ps. 73:26). He uses our sufferings to demonstrate his sufficiency. And he uses our afflictions as the occasion for dispersing comfort and the deepest realities of his abiding care (2 Cor. 1:3–11)." – Gospel Transformation Bible

 2. Proclaiming Christ to Everyone (1:28-29)

Quote: As F.F. Bruce writes: There is no part of Christian teaching that is to be reserved for a spiritual elite. All the truth of God is for all the people of God.

CONCLUSION: What things do you work hard for in life? For what things are you willing to expend your energy, to sacrifice, perhaps even to suffer?

• Don’t get distracted.
• Don’t get discouraged.
• Don’t give up.