“The struggle is real.” You may have heard that phrase. It’s used to convey the difficulty of an unseen burden. It’s also used ironically at times to highlight “first-world problems.”
When it comes to our job as preachers the struggle is real. We say with Paul, “I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you” (2:1). Like Paul, we’re weighed down by burdens: false teachers with their plausible-sounding arguments, ongoing problems like sexual immorality and slander, neighbors in need of the gospel.
Paul’s letter to the Colossians is realistic about this “toil” (1:29), yet optimistic about the truth of the gospel: “Of this you have heard before in the word of truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing” (1:5–6). Our churches are proof that God’s gospel saves. Our struggles are proof that it’s not done increasing.
Paul’s gospel-centered optimism is one reason why I chose to preach Colossians in my first year as a preaching pastor. Why should you preach the book of Colossians? Let’s let the book answer that question. Here are four reasons to preach Colossians, each derived from the
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