Annotations of Gospel Centrality: Colossians 1:28-29

28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.
Colossians 1:28-29

God never intended for us to move beyond the gospel. This is clear in numerous places in Scripture, including these verses. The goal of the Christian life is to be brought into complete conformity to Jesus Christ, or, as this passage puts it, that we may be mature (or complete) in Christ. Every Christian should be employing the biblically prescribed means of accomplishing the goal of completeness in Christ.

What, then, is that means? Paul says, “Him we proclaim.”  The sum and substance of everything needed to accomplish the goal is found in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Not five tips, three ways, or four principles. One thing: the gospel. It should be preached publicly and privately, in the presence of hundreds and in the conversation of just one.

One might think that the gospel being preached over and over again might get boring. It might run dry. It might become ritualistic and lose its meaning. I think that is why Paul added the phrase “with all wisdom.”  It takes wisdom and skill to preach the gospel in compelling, fresh ways so that the more people hear it, the more of it they discover and experience renewal in their hearts. Christians who proclaim other things beside the gospel are blind, and Christians who proclaim the gospel without wisdom and “his energy” at work in you are barren.

Proclaim Jesus. Morning, noon, and night. Don’t change the subject. Don’t believe the lie that something else is going to grow your church beside the retelling of the story of our crucified, risen Savior. Such a gospel warrants a lifelong toiling and struggling with the power of the Spirit so that every person in our lives is warned, taught, and ultimately presented as one mature in Christ. God never intends for us to move beyond the gospel, for through it, we are being prepared for perfection in glory.