Grace Fellowship    5/10/09    What Does a Healthy Church Look Like?    Colossians 2:1-5  

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Living here in the vicinity of Penn State, we all know what the most important thing in life is: football.  When I was very young I watched a lot of football on TV with my Dad and my brother.  Mostly professional football.  My Dad’s favorite team was always the Washington Redskins.  I’m not sure why.  But I never had a serious inclination to play football in high school because it looked like it would probably hurt a lot.  It just didn’t appeal to me.  The running and the catching and the touchdowns were fine.  It was just all that pain inflicted on you when they caught you with the ball.  Not my idea of fun.  Those guys are real athletes.  And real crazy.
 
Lately, Sharon and I have enjoyed watching another kind of pain being inflicted on people.  It sounds kinda sick, doesn’t it?  But I must admit, I have really enjoyed watching The Biggest Loser.  It is about very large people losing very large amounts of weight by being tortured by personal trainers for four or five months.  These people begin their first week at the ranch totally out of shape and dangerously unhealthy.  But through lots and lots and LOTS of hard work and discipline and intensive training and exercise, many of them are eventually transformed into fit and healthy athletes.  Hundreds of pounds are lost by these teams competing against each other for the title of “The Biggest Loser”.  The one person who perseveres and stays in the competition the longest and loses unbelievable amounts of weight, is declared The Biggest Loser.  When you see the before and after pictures of these contestants, it is absolutely remarkable.  They are barely recognizable as the same person.

Whether it is a teenager who becomes a professional sports athlete, or an undisciplined young man who becomes a Marine, or someone who enters the quest to become The Biggest Loser, one word describes the the experience of those who succeed: agony.  Nowhere is that more obvious than on The Biggest Loser.  A man named Ron started on the show at 430 pounds with two bad knees, a bad shoulder, and diabetes.  In 11 weeks he lost 100 pounds.  That was a picture of determination and agony.

An accomplishment like that is admirable.  Running on the treadmill, working out in the gym, exercising, lifting weights, avoiding the food that so easily beset them, doing the push ups and sit ups and chin ups, . . . and doing all that on a nearly daily basis until it hurts so badly that you think you cannot go on, . . . but somehow you go a little bit more . . .  It’s that kind of perseverance and suffering and discipline and agony that transforms worse than average, badly out-of-shape people into respectable athletes and role models.

One of the greatest role models for the Christian life in the Scriptures is the apostle Paul.  I believe Paul may be the most impressive Christian in the Bible.  Turn to Colossians.  Let’s read our text for today:

Colossians 1:24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, 25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 26 the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. 27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29 For this (i.e. v. 28) I toil, struggling (agonizomai) with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.

Colossians 2:1  For I want you to know how great a struggle (agon) I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, 2 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. 5 For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.

In verse 29 and in verse 1, Paul uses two related Greek words which may sound familiar:  Agonizomai and Agon.  We get the English word “agony” from this.  The noun form of the word, agon, literally means “generally, any struggle or contest”

 1.  an assembly,
         1. a place of assembly: especially an assembly met to see games
         2. the place of contest, the arena or stadium
   2. the assembly of the Greeks at their national games
         1. hence the contest for a prize at their games
         2. generally, any struggle or contest
         3. a battle
         4. an action at law, trial

KJV (6) - conflict, 2; contention, 1; fight, 2; race, 1;
NAS (6) - conflict, 1; fight, 2; opposition, 1; race, 1; struggle, 1;

That specific noun is used six times in the New Testament, and Paul uses it at least five of those times.  

Php 1:27 Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, 28 and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God. 29 For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, 30 engaged in the same conflict (agon) that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.

1 Thess 2:1  For you yourselves know, brothers, that our coming to you was not in vain. 2 But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know [Acts 16:19, 22-23], we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict. (agon) [See Acts 17:5-10]

1 Timothy 6:11  But as for you, O man of God, flee these things [various sins]. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. 12 Fight (agonizomai) the good fight (agon) of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

2 Timothy 4:7  I have fought (agonizomai) the good fight (agon), I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

Hebrews 12:1  1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race (agon) that is set before us,  2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.

From day one, the Gospel of the Lord Jesus has had enemies.  Those who would preach that Gospel and those who live by that Gospel have enemies.  And as we look at the life of Paul throughout the New Testament, we see that the Christian life is a life of agonizing, of struggle, of fighting the good fight against many opponents.  It is a race that must be run.  Athletes give us a clear picture of what our lives are supposed to look like:  a lot of work, strain, pain, self-denial, self-discipline . . . and reward.

But our lives don’t often look that way.  As believers, we are too often like lazy, undisciplined, spiritual couch potatoes who weigh 430 pounds, have terrible diets, take lots of medication and wonder why we feel so bad.  Is your spiritual life kinda limp and lifeless?  It may be because you’re not experiencing enough agony.

Look back at Colossians 1:28 again.  Notice what Paul says there: Him (the Lord Jesus) we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.   Then he says, “For this”, in other words, the proclaiming, and warning and teaching of everyone, I toil, struggling (agonizomai) with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.  

Paul is working to the point of agonizing exhaustion for the sake of taking the Gospel to the Gentiles.  It reminds me of the people on The Biggest Loser working out in the gym with sweat pouring from their faces, crying out in pain as their legs ache.  They scream for some relief from their trainers.  But they don’t stop, they keep on going.  They keep on going because the prize of agonizing perseverance is worth the pain and suffering.  On TV, the prize is weight loss, better health, and a quarter of a million dollars.  But in these verses, Paul struggles to see men and women hear of and believe in Jesus Christ.  

The kind of Christian life we see in Paul is an extremely rare sight today.  Do you remember Epaphras, Paul’s friend that is mentioned back in the early verses of chapter 1?  Paul describes Epaphras in the same terms.  Look at Colossians 4:12.

Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling [agonizomai] on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God. 13 For I bear him witness that he has worked hard for you and for those in Laodicea and in Hierapolis.

How many Christians, especially pastors and missionaries, do you know who could rightly and honestly be described as someone who works so hard at living a godly life, they are so concerned for the spiritual benefit of other believers, that they could be rightly described as fighting the good fight, or to be a bit more literal, they agonize the good agony?  They work hard for the sake of the Church.  They struggle in prayer for the sake of other believers.  Look with me at Ephesians 4.

11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

On the TV program, there is no one who is so loved and so hated simultaneously as the trainers Jillian and Bob.  They put the contestants to the test and it isn’t long before they aren’t friends.  The trainers hurt their trainees.  They push them relentlessly.  They have no mercy on them.  But at the same time, they are constantly encouraging them.  Bob and Jillian are not the enemies of their trainees.  

Even though it doesn’t feel like it a lot of the time, the trainers are their best friends.  It is because of the perseverance of the trainers that these overweight, undisciplined, unhealthy people lose the weight, get in shape, get healthy and stay that way. 

According to Ephesians 4, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers = trainers.  These are the God-ordained personal spiritual fitness trainers for the saints who comprise the body of Christ.  These are the people who have been given the responsibility of equipping believers to do their own job: the work of ministry.  And just like Bob and Jillian on The Biggest Loser, pastors and teachers who do their jobs well, who are good trainers, are often not appreciated until after a lot of sweat has been poured out and a lot of pain has been endured on the part of their trainees.  It is not easy to be a strong, healthy, mature Christian.  It takes a lot of collective effort to build up a strong and healthy Church.  But notice what the rewards are when the body of Christ is built up:

v. 13a - unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God

vs. 13b-14 - mature manhood, no longer be children susceptible to false doctrines and deceptions

v. 15 - speaking the truth in love, we grow up in every way (strength training)

v. 16 - when each part is working properly, it makes the entire body grow so that it builds itself up in love (collective spiritual health)

THAT is the beauty of a healthy church!  But it requires spiritual agony, spiritual struggle, spiritual work-outs that cause us to be that mature, godly, doctrinally-informed, loving body of Christians that builds itself up and encourages itself to persevere in love and good deeds.

The training of unhealthy people begins with a check-up, an evaluation.  Everybody weighs in, everybody gets their blood pressure checked, everybody gets the once over in order to determine their current condition.  On the show, the most obvious health issue is weight.  That is usually because of a lack of self-motivation.  And that’s where the trainers come in.  In the church, I am your trainer.  We all know some trainers are better than others.  But if you desperately need to lose 100 pounds and your trainer is 5’ 4” and weighs 400 pounds, maybe you should consider finding another trainer.  That’s true in the spiritual sense also.

What kind of condition am I in?  That is the question that keeps coming back to me.  “Am I in any condition to be training anyone else?  Can I teach others to be disciplined if I am not disciplined myself?”  No.  The only thing that kind of person teaches is hypocrisy.  And we’re not talking exclusively about the pastor, but about anyone who is supposed to besetting a spiritual example for others.  That’s all of us.

During the course of the season on The Biggest Loser, one episode shows the trainees giving their trainers a workout.  Kinda scary for the trainers!  Some of the trainees consider it to be an opportunity for payback, for revenge against the trainers who have been so merciless to them.  But what comes across is that these trainers walk the walk and talk the talk.  They are in tremendous physical condition and they can take it as well as dish it out.

According to the passages we’ve read today, it seems clear that your spiritual health is to a large degree dependent upon mine.  I cannot lead you where I have never gone.  I cannot simply talk about the Christian life in theory.  I have to be able to show you how it’s done and walk you through it.  Otherwise, I’m not doing my job of equipping you to do the work of being a Christian.  If I have not agonized, if I have not fought the good fight, how am I going to train you to do so?

I’ve been going through a spiritual check up of my own recently.  Jim and I have been taking an online course entitled Maintaining Your Spiritual Health.  The primary text for the course is entitled, Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health.  It’s hard to know where you and I are spiritually if we never examine ourselves and ask some spiritual diagnostic questions.  I’m working through these question myself, but I want to ask you those ten questions.  I want you to rate yourself on a scale of, let’s say 1 to 5.  One is “I need some serious help” and 5 is “I could be the trainer.”  A perfect score is 50.  If you’re below 10, call 911.  Here’s question #1:

#1 - Do you thirst for God?  Do you want to know God more than you do now, and is that longing evident?
#2 - Are you governed increasingly by God’s Word?  Does the Bible have more and more influence over how you live your life?
#3 - Are you increasing in your love for others, both for believers and unbelievers?
#4 - Are you more sensitive to God’s presence?  Are you growing in your awareness of the workings of God in your life?
#5 - Do you have a growing concern for both the spiritual and temporal needs of others?
#6 - Do you delight in the Bride of Christ?  Do you take pleasure in those who bring pleasure to the Lord Jesus?
#7 - Are the spiritual disciplines increasingly important to you?  Do you see more and more of the spiritual value of prayer, fellowship, private worship, corporate worship, Bible reading and meditation, etc. and are you pursuing them?
#8 - Do you still grieve over sin, your own sin in particular?
#9 - A you a quicker forgiver?  Is it becoming easier for you to forgive others in light of a growing awareness of your own sin?
#10 - Do you yearn for Heaven and to be with Jesus?  Not, “Do you long to escape this miserable world and be happy”, but do you long to be with Him? ¹
 
How spiritually out of shape are you?  Obviously this isn’t a scientific survey, but it is helpful for us to think about these things.  Does my Christian life need to be on spiritual life support?  Can I see progress and growth over time in my own spiritual walk?  What areas need some specialized, focused attention?  Is some repentance in order?  Do I need help?  Would my pastor/trainer be able to assist me to be more disciplined in some area of my spiritual life?  

Is there need for more spiritual agony, more struggle, more fighting of the good fight of faith in your life?  Are we as a church working at being godly, or does our spiritual life, collectively speaking, look like we’re all on the couch with a bag of chips, a soda, and a romance novel?  Paul said to the Colossians, For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.  They were spiritually healthy!  Would he be able to say that about the church in Pine Grove Mills?  Would he have that to say about you?

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1. Whitney, Donald S. Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health, Nav Press, 2001.