Colossians 1: Three Essentials for a Healthy Church

Introduction

That evening at The Tron Church in Glasgow, churches from all over Scotland give thanks to God for twenty years of Cornhill Scotland, a course that trains men and women to teach and preach the Bible. Twenty years earlier, to the day, at the course's inaugural service, the preacher was already Craig Dyer. He returns to preach, this time on Colossians 1.

The pastor of Hamilton Baptist Church, he warns from the start: "I have nothing new to say to you tonight." From Colossians 1 he draws three essentials of Paul's ministry for the health of every church, every believer and every ministry. They are not found everywhere, he laments, but they are the ones Cornhill Scotland exists to encourage.

Anchored by God's Word, aligned with God's will, active in God's work: these three markers apply to a Bible school, but also to your church and to your own life.

Message Outline

1. What Cornhill has done for him

• All summer long, the BBC invited its viewers to ask themselves: "What has the BBC done for me?" Craig Dyer asked himself the same question about the Cornhill Training Course.
• He was never part of the team or a student at Cornhill, but the whole adventure has enriched his life and his ministry.
• In the early 1990s, a young pastor alone at the head of a church and "desperately" looking for help, he discovered the Proclamation Trust in London. There he found the training he was looking for, and also "the tribe" he was looking for. "These two things are equally important and equally precious."
• He then wrote to the Proclamation Trust's conference leader to ask him to come to Scotland. The man asked whether he had a network. He knew no one and no one knew him: "My wife barely knew me, and what she did know about me was not very encouraging." His initiative went no further.
• About ten years later, the Lord brought Willie back to Scotland, with Edward and the others. Twenty years on, he concludes: "My cup overflows with gratitude to God."

2. Anchored by God's Word

• Paul gives thanks for the faith, love and hope of the Colossians, then adds: "of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the Gospel" (Colossians 1:3-5). A life-changing message was proclaimed to them, and they received the grace to receive it.
• At the end of the chapter, Paul unfolds the miracle: you who were strangers and enemies, Christ has reconciled by his death, to present you before him holy, blameless and without reproach (Colossians 1:21-22).
• Then comes "a big if": "if it is so that you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the Gospel which you heard" (Colossians 1:23). Paul looks ahead to the day of judgment, when the Lord Jesus will return.
• If you have turned to Christ and you hold on to the Gospel, then whatever life holds for you, you can live with the certainty of being presented to God without fear of reproach. Nothing can take away this quiet certainty: when you see the Lord Jesus, "it will be well for you in spite of yourself."
• Most organizations have a vision about moving forward and gaining ground. Gospel-faithful churches cherish the opposite value: not moving. "We are very perverse: we make progress by not moving."
• The Gospel is not limited to flagship verses like John 3:16: it is the whole revelation of God, the whole truth of Jesus as Lord. Having begun by hearing the Gospel, we are kept by continuing to hear it throughout all of Scripture.

3. When the tides rise

• This anchoring cannot be taken for granted. Paul says he proclaims Christ by admonishing (Colossians 1:28), and in verse 23 he puts it negatively: do not be moved away from the hope of the Gospel.
• Craig Dyer recalls a Boys' Brigade hymn: "When the strong tides lift and the cables strain, will your anchor drift or firm remain?" This is not a question reserved for boys: it is addressed to churches, to their leaders and to seminary leaders of every era.
• Strong currents threatened every church in the New Testament, which is why the letters were written. He himself went through the "chaos" of the 1980s. He observes, sadly, that over the past twenty years in Scotland, gospel-founded churches and people have drifted away from it because they were not careful to stay anchored. They assumed it would just happen.
• Why do people drift from the Gospel? Because being anchored is a protection, but it is also a restriction. God's Word always contradicts what we think is best.
• In this same letter, Paul's teaching on the relationship between husbands and wives is judged offensive today. That is where the cables strain, and some leaders have the reflex to raise the anchor: "It is too sensitive for our time."
• At Hamilton Baptist Church, the church took these three headings from Colossians 1 as its mission statement. But saying it is not enough: "Time will tell." The Word of the sovereign Lord protects our hope and directs our steps, but it also limits our movements. When some feel the anchor drag, they want to move.

4. Aligned with God's will

• Paul links his preaching and his prayer, two aspects of ministry that always go together, or should always go together.
• "For this cause, we also, since the day we heard this, don't cease praying and making requests for you, that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, that you may walk worthily of the Lord" (Colossians 1:9-10). Paul prays that they would know God's will in order to walk in God's way, that they would know God ever more in order to please him ever more.
• In youth groups, two subjects always came up: relationships and God's will. At every age, we want to know what to do: whether to marry or not, change jobs, retrain, renegotiate a mortgage, fix the boiler, accept an operation.
• God cares about all these details, but he will not be "consulted like an oracle." We would like precise answers: "Tell me, Lord, and I will go and do it." Craig Dyer admits that if God had done that for him, he would have come to fetch the answer, then gone off to do things without him.
• All spiritual wisdom is available, but it is found in knowing God, not in downloading one-off answers. Knowing God's will does not mean knowing everything that is going to happen: it means having what it takes to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.
• Some think that being anchored in the Word ties us to an ancient truth, useless for modern challenges. It is quite the opposite. Faced with the debate on artificial intelligence, he ventures a play on words: here is the "ultimate intelligence," all the wisdom of the One who created the universe and sustains it, for every complexity of your life.
• We do not reach it by persuading the Lord to align with our ways, but by aligning ourselves with his will through an ever greater knowledge of him. In his morning Bible reading, he often experiences this conflict between his way of seeing things and God's. Then, after the struggle, comes this feeling: there is real security in placing yourself under the authority of his Word.

5. Active in God's work

• Paul sums up the work of his life: he is a minister "according to the stewardship of God which was given me toward you, to fulfill the word of God" (Colossians 1:25).
• This stewardship was not given to him to make him great or so that everyone would admire him. It was given to him for them. This is still true of God's gifts in the ministry of the Gospel.
• To make the Word fully known is to make the whole Word known, from Genesis to Revelation, to the whole world of God. This is the work in which the Lord Jesus, risen and seated at the right hand of the Father, is engaged today by his Spirit, through his church.
• "Whom we proclaim, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ" (Colossians 1:28). There is the labor and there is the goal.
• The labor is the demanding work of opening the Word, making it clear, and staying devoted to its beauty, its contours and its emphases: the whole Word for the whole world.
• The goal is not Christians who are worn out, drained and embittered, but the opposite: mature, stable, firm churches. They are still rare in Scotland. The vision is to see healthy, joyful church families multiply, lifting up Christ and proclaiming the Word, anchored in his Word, aligned with his will and active in his work.

6. A prayer to stay anchored tomorrow

• Craig Dyer concludes with a prayer of thanksgiving for what God has done in London, in Glasgow, in Belfast and around the world, and for the rediscovery of the power of his Word in every generation.
• "We do not take it for granted that we will be anchored tomorrow." He humbly asks that God's grace would carry the day in our lives.
• He gives thanks for the "incalculable tonnage" of Gospel seed already sown among the nations, and prays that it would fall on good soil and produce an abundant harvest.
• Finally, he takes up Paul's words: "For this I also labor, striving according to his working, which works in me mightily" (Colossians 1:29).

Key Takeaways

• Your certainty before God on the last day rests on an "if": continuing grounded and steadfast in the faith, not moved away from the Gospel you heard.
• Being anchored in the Word protects, but it also restricts. It is when the Word contradicts the times that the temptation to raise the anchor is felt.
• God is not an oracle who delivers answers on demand. The wisdom for your life is found in knowing God himself.
• The gifts received in ministry are not given to make us great, but for others.
• The goal of the ministry of the Word is to present everyone mature in Christ, not to produce worn-out Christians.

Personal Application

1. On what point of the Word do you feel "the anchor dragging" today? What makes you want to move?
2. Do you take it for granted that you will still be holding on to the Gospel in twenty years? What concretely helps you stay anchored?
3. When you seek God's will, are you mainly waiting for a precise answer, or are you seeking to know him better?
4. Do prayer and the Word go together in your life and in your service?
5. What gift have you received "for others," and how can you use it to help someone grow in Christ?

Verses Cited

• Colossians 1
• Colossians 1:3-5
• Colossians 1:9-10
• Colossians 1:21-23
• Colossians 1:25-29
• Colossians 3:18-19
• John 3:16

Frequently Asked Questions

What does it mean to stay anchored in the Word according to Colossians 1:23?

Paul writes: "if it is so that you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the Gospel which you heard." For Craig Dyer, everything rests on this "if." Whoever holds on to the Gospel they heard can live with the assurance of being presented holy and blameless before God on the last day. Being anchored protects, but it also restricts: the Word often contradicts what we think is best.

How do you know God's will according to Colossians 1:9-10?

Paul prays that the Colossians would be filled with the knowledge of God's will so that they may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord. Craig Dyer stresses that God will not be consulted like an oracle that gives precise answers to every question. Wisdom is found in knowing God himself, which grows through his Word.

What is the goal of the ministry of the Word according to Colossians 1:28?

Paul proclaims Christ, admonishing and teaching every man in all wisdom, so as to present every man to God perfect in Christ. Craig Dyer distinguishes the labor, making the whole Word known to the whole world, from the goal: not worn-out, embittered Christians, but mature, stable, firm churches.