A BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESSFUL LIVING!
Chuck Hill, D.Min.
Colossians 1:24-29
INTRODUCTION
To be clear — JESUS IS GRATER THAN ALL THINGS!
This morning, I want us to look closely at what Paul says about living a life that aims high, works diligently, and faithfully pursues the fulfillment of God’s call. In essence, Paul outlines a plan for genuinely successful living.
Now, let’s clarify what I mean by “successful living.” I’m not talking about worldly achievements like titles, riches, or self-serving fame. I realize that’s how the world tends to define success—measuring it by wealth, power, and popularity.
However, this worldly view can be misleading and ultimately tragic, as it centers on temporary gains and overlooks what truly matters—things eternal and lasting. In contrast, the Bible defines success as living a life obedient to God, empowered by His Spirit, driven by His love, and fully surrendered to His will. In the closing verses of Colossians 1, Paul shares his personal journey and provides us with a vivid illustration of this biblical model. In many ways, his words serve as a BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESSFUL LIVING!
So, if you have your Bible, please join me in Colossians chapter 1, beginning with verse 24.
24 Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. 25 I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— 26 the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. 27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. 29 To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me. — Colossians 1:24-29 (NIV)
In these verses, Paul describes three key attitudes that are necessary for fulfilling God’s call on our lives — and experiencing TRUE SUCCESS!
And it’s my belief that if we’ll embrace these attitudes — they will affect every area of of lives (making us successful in our work, in our ministries, in our marriage, in our parenting, and in all other pursuits). But I must warn you — the habits of GODLY SUCCESS often look very COUNTER-INTUITIVE! And such is the case for the first thing Paul mentions.
But it you want to experience TRUE SUCCESS in life — then, first of all…
1. You must be willing to suffer!
In this life you will face trials of many kinds. In this life you will face hardship and pain. In this life you will deal with suffering. Even so, trust in Jesus!
I know this sounds strange. And it is (from our human perspective), but God can take the bad and use it for our good and His glory. He can take our difficulty and pain and redeem them for His divine purposes. And for this reason, He calls us to scoff at the enemy and rejoice in our sufferings. Here’s the deal — you will suffer in life. Because of SIN’S affect on this world, you will face suffering. It’s inevitable. But take heart, because Jesus has OVERCOME!
Because of this, in verse 24, Paul says,
24 Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you…
The idea of rejoicing in suffering may seems odd to us…but Paul understood that suffering could have a bigger purpose. For what the enemy (the devil) intended for evil, God could use for good. (Which comes out of Genesis 50:20 — the story of Joseph and his brothers).
Maybe that’s why Jesus would say in Matthew 5:11-12:
11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven.”
Rather than view suffering as a loss — look at it as your gain. Rejoice in it…and trust Jesus!
- Trust Him to go through it with you.
- Trust Him to give you strengthen to stand.
- And trust Him to redeem your pain for His purposes.
And remember, when things get tough — rejoice, because God is an expert at bringing good out of bad. Just think about it — He loves to turn crucifixions into resurrections.
— There are so many good examples of this — but just think about the story of Lazarus. Jesus could have gotten to him before he suffered and died — but God had a bigger plan — and a better purpose. For out of his death came his resurrection.
— Or consider the story of Paul’s arrest and imprisonment in Philippi. God could have kept Paul from being wrongly imprisoned, but he had a bigger plan — and a better purpose. And so, through his prison experience, God allowed Paul to lead the jailer into faith. And he got saved. He and his entire family.
— And if that’s not enough, consider Jesus’ crucifixion and death. God certainly could have kept Him from going to the cross, but he let him go. Because He had a bigger plan — and a better purpose. And through Jesus’ suffering and death, God changed the world.
He brought us salvation through suffering.
Again, true success is that which leads us to live in obedience to God, empowered by His Spirit, motivated by love, which fulfills His purposes — and brings Him glory. And that’s often what happens when we suffer in this life — but trust Him through the pain.
The things you most wish were removed from your life are often the very things that God uses to shape you and change others! And so, knowing this — Paul says in verse 24,
24 Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church.
Paul says, in suffering we unite ourselves with Christ — and through it, God brings blessing to others.
So, don’t despise suffering. Trust Jesus through it. And rejoice in the realization that He is with you!
If you want to be successful in life: You must be willing to suffer! But secondly…
2. You must be willing to serve.
When it came to others — and specifically, the Body of Christ, Paul said (in verse 25),
25 I have become its servant by the commission God gave me …
You see, you cannot really serve Jesus without serving others. And I’d add — if you want to be successful in life…then it’s going to require you to serve (to give of yourself for the benefit of others). You were created for this purpose! God didn’t create you and save you sit, but to serve!
Paul states this clearly in Ephesians 2:10 — when he writes,
“We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works” (Ephesians 2:10).
His point was that even before you were born, God planned for you to have a life of service. Is it possible that one of the reasons so many people are miserable today is because they’ve gotten life backwards? Rather than fulfilling their calling to serve others — they serve themselves.
I think this is where the counter-intuitive nature of serving others comes in to play. Because when we serve others, our needs are met. But when we serve ourselves, we live unfulfilled, empty lives (always wanting more). You were created for service. If you’re not serving somewhere, you’re missing out! More than that, the Bible tells us that serving others is one of the best ways to serve God! As Jesus stated in Matthew 25:40,
“…whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”
Serving others is the way to serve God!
I could probably tell you endless stories of those who have served others…but maybe the best example of this (in recent years) is the famous Albanian Catholic nun — we call, Mother Teresa. While she was born in Albania — she felt God call her to serve the poorest of the poor in India. And so, as a young woman, she willingly gave up everything to serve others.
She modeled what would later be called — SERVANT LEADERSHIP! She changed lives by caring for the physical needs of others. She fed the hungry, she clothed the naked, she cared for the orphan, she educated the illiterate, she nursed the sick, bandaged the wounds of the leper, and served the affirmed and dying (and gave dignity to those overlooked by most).
Mother Teresa just had a different way of looking at life. It wasn’t about what others could do for her, it was about how she could serve others. She was fond of saying, “There are no great things, only small things with great love.”
Once when she was in Calcutta, India, Mother Teresa was tending to a wound on a leprous person when a couple of American tourists came by and saw her bandaging his wound. One tourist asked, “Mother Teresa, can I take your picture?” Without looking up she said, “Sure,” and so the American tourist took the picture. The tourist then stepped back and whispered to another, sharing, “I wouldn’t do that for a million dollars.” To which Mother Teresa, replied, “Neither would I!”
You see, she was a servant. She wasn’t in it for the money, or the face, or the titles — she was just a servant of God and a servant of others.
Understand, SMALL THINGS DONE WITH GREAT LOVE CAN CHANGE THE WORLD!
So what are you waiting for — start serving!
In Matthew 20, Jesus said,
The son of man didn’t come to be served, but to serve. (Matthew 20:28)
And Paul understood this. He got it. And we need to understand it too — if we want to follow Jesus — then we must do as He did, and serve others!
If you want to be successful in life: You must be willing to suffer! You must be willing to serve. And lastly…
3. You must be willing to SHARE.
Look again at Paul words in verse 25. Here he says, The calling and commission God gave me is this:
25 …to present to you the word of God in its fullness— 26 the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people.
Our calling (as believers) is ultimately to speak up — and to tell the story of Jesus.
Paul goes on to say in verse 27,
27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ
Paul says the reason we suffer and the reason we serve is so we can SHARE Jesus!
Everything he did ultimately led him to the point. His primary purpose in life — his chief reason for being, was to tell people about Jesus.
And this must be our primary purpose as well.
Like Paul, God has chosen us to make His name known…to tell His story…and to proclaim Christ to our world.
We proclaim the one Paul described in verse 15 —the VISIBLE IMAGE OF THE INVISIBLE GOD!
While there are many GOOD things to be about, none compare with this call to PROCLAIM JESUS! Our message must be Jesus! And only Jesus.
This means that:
- We’re not here to proclaim some new clever idea or special insight…
- We don’t proclaim some grand self-improvement plan or some stress management system.
- We don’t proclaim some humanistic therapeutic ideas.
- We certainly aren’t here to proclaim a political position, platform or agenda.
To the contrary…our message is simple:
We proclaim Christ!
No exceptions. No excuses! Our message must be to tell people about Jesus and His great love for them — and His great power to forgive them! In verse 29, Paul sums all this up when he says,
29 To this end I strenuously contend…
Paul tells us that when we surrender our availability to Him, that God will work His ability through us — to change the world! And so, since Christ is in you, the hope of glory, He will provide everything you need – all the supernatural strength and energy for you to lead people to faith in Jesus. But it means you have to be committed to His calling! You must be willing to exercise your faith…every day – in our church, in your school, in your workplace, in your neighborhood, and to the ends of the earth!
And no matter what — DON’T GIVE UP! Don’t grow lazy and lethargic…STRENUOUSLY CONTEND for the souls of others.
No matter what — lead others to Jesus.
If you’ll do this, then God will be honored…and you’ll live a TRULY SUCCESSFUL LIFE! Because, true success for us about proclaiming the gospel (through our words and deeds), and leading others to Jesus.
As the late preacher, George Whitfield once said: “Other men may preach the gospel better than I, but no man can preach a better gospel.”
CONCLUSION
So let me ask you?
Do you want to live a successful life — a BIBLICALLY SUCCESSFUL LIFE?
A life that is wholly obedient to God, empowered by His Spirit, motivated by love, and surrendered to His will?
— Then…be willing to suffer for Christ.
— Be willing to serve others for Christ!
— And be willing to share the gospel of Christ…everywhere you go!
And in the end, you’ll discover — it’s totally worth it!
CLOSING PRAYER
Heavenly Father, we all want to live successful lives. When this life is over — we want our lives to have mattered and to have made a difference. But we realize that there’s so much more to living than just accumulating more stuff. We know there’s more to this life than making a name fore ourselves — or building a big business, or amassing great wealth. We recognize that true success is when we live for you. When we submit to you. When we suffer with gladness, and serve with passion, and share your story with determination. So fill us with your Spirit. Empower us to represent you well. And give us the strength and courage we need to make the rest of our days, the best of our days for you!Make us successful — help us to live boldly for you. In Jesus name. Amen!