Jack Gutknecht Supporter Arizona Bible College graduate and Dallas Seminary graduate

Based on Colossians 1:24-29 and its cross-references, here is how the church can and should serve the world.

The primary way the church serves the world is by proclaiming the mystery of "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27). This service is spiritual and eternal. The church serves the world by being the vehicle through which God makes known "the riches of the glory of this mystery" to everyone, including the Gentiles (non-Jews).

Specifically, the church serves the world by following the pattern Paul lays out in Colossians 1:28-29. (3 ways):

1. By preaching Christ (Col 1:28). The church's central message is a person: Jesus Christ. The cross-references show this means proclaiming "the forgiveness of sins" (Acts 13:38) and "the unsearchable riches of Christ" (Ephesians 3:8). The world is served when it hears the clear message of redemption and reconciliation through Christ alone.

2. By warning and teaching with all wisdom (Col 1:28). Serving the world involves both "warning every man" (acting as a watchman, as in Ezekiel 3:17-21) and "teaching every man" (as seen in Matthew 28:20). This is done with "all wisdom" (Colossians 3:16), meaning the church uses skill, discretion, and understanding to communicate Christian truth, admonishing one another and singing psalms and hymns. This service helps bring people to maturity ("perfect in Christ Jesus").

3. By laboring and striving with God's energy (Col 1:29). Serving the world is costly. The church "labors" (works to the point of exhaustion) and "strives" (agonizes, like an athlete in competition, from Colossians 2:1). However, this is done "according to his working, which worketh in me mightily" (KJV). The church serves not in its own strength, but by relying on the same power that raised Christ from the dead (Ephesians 1:19). This includes intercessory prayer, as Epaphras "wrestles in prayer" for others (Colossians 4:12).

The ultimate goal of the church’s service is to "present every man perfect in Christ Jesus" (Col 1:28). As the cross-references in Ephesians 4:12-13 explain, this service is "for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith... unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ."

So, the church serves the world by being the community that announces and embodies the hope of glory, which is Christ living in believers. This is done through verbal proclamation (preaching and teaching), loving warning, patient instruction in wisdom, and sacrificial labor empowered by God's own energy, all aimed at bringing people to spiritual maturity in Jesus Christ.

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