Will We Make It to the End?
If Christ has reconciled us to God, what happens now? The Christian life is not simply about the moment we first believe. There is a journey ahead.
Paul speaks about continuing “in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel”. This is serious. There are people who seem to begin well but do not finish. There are people who once professed faith but later abandon Christ. There are people who turn away from the Gospel and embrace another hope.
So how do we know that someone truly belongs to Christ?
Paul’s answer is not that genuine Christians never struggle. It is not that they never doubt. It is not that they never fall into sin. It is that those who truly belong to Christ continue in the faith.
Perseverance does not earn our salvation. Rather, perseverance reveals the reality of our salvation.
The battle does not make the true soldier a soldier. It reveals him to be one.
And here we find one of the great comforts of the Christian Gospel. The Christ who reconciles his people is also the Christ who preserves his people. The one who began the work does not abandon it. The one who saved us does not leave us to save ourselves.
Christ Works Through His People
How does Christ keep his people? Paul gives us a surprising answer: through the ministry of his Word and through the faithful ministry of his people.
Paul says, “Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ” (Colossians 1:28).
Notice the simplicity.
Him we proclaim.
The answer to spiritual immaturity is Christ. The answer to spiritual instability is Christ. The answer to false teaching is Christ. The answer to discouragement is Christ. The answer to temptation is Christ. The answer to a church drifting from the Gospel is Christ.
Paul does not point people towards a new programme. He does not offer a secret technique. He does not direct them towards some hidden spiritual experience.
He proclaims Christ.
And this is how Christ continues his work among his people. Christ works through the faithful proclamation of his Word. He works through preaching. He works through teaching. He works through correction. He works through warning. He works through encouragement. He works through ordinary Christians who speak the truth in love to one another.
This means that the Christian life was never intended to be lived alone.
Christ has given his church to his people as a means of grace. The church is not merely a place we attend. It is a people among whom Christ is at work.
The believer sitting beside you is not an inconvenience to your spiritual life. They may be one of the very means Christ intends to use to keep you faithful.
The brother who encourages you. The sister who prays for you. The friend who gently warns you. The pastor who faithfully opens the Scriptures. The church member who notices that you are struggling and asks how you are doing. These may seem like ordinary things.
But Christ works through ordinary means.
The perfect Saviour works through imperfect saints.
What Does This Mean for Us?
It means that we should ask ourselves some uncomfortable questions.
What is my hope resting on? When everything else is stripped away, is my hope really Christ?
Am I growing? Is Christ being increasingly formed in me?
Am I continuing? Am I stable and steadfast in the Gospel, or am I slowly being carried away by other voices?
And perhaps most importantly, am I helping others continue?
Christ has not only called us to be preserved by his body, the church, he has called us to be instruments through whom he preserves others.
You may not have great wisdom. You may not have impressive gifts. You may not have a theological degree. But you can pray. You can encourage. You can open the Bible with someone. You can speak the truth in love. You can point a struggling Christian back to Christ. You can remind someone who has forgotten the Gospel that Jesus is still enough.
Paul says that he labours and struggles, but he does so with “all his energy that he powerfully works within me”.
This is the Christian paradox. We work because Christ is working. We persevere because Christ preserves. We serve because Christ is serving through us. We proclaim because Christ continues to proclaim himself through his Word.
And one day, the work will be complete.