“Of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God.“
God entrusted Paul with the truth. His responsibility was to be faithful in delivering it to others.
“which was given to me for you”
Paul clearly understood his ministry was from God. It was a ministry from God for the Colossians.
“to fulfill the word of God”
The Colossian heresy crowed about their special “fullness” (incipient Gnosticism) that was possible exclusively through their secret rituals. Paul says that he is a God-ordained servant of the fullness of the Word of God (Col 1:9; 2:9). God wants Paul to give full scope to fulfill the Word of God. God wants him to provide as broad an audience as possible to his Word.
God put Paul in a particular place of ministry. Paul wrote half of the New Testament. Matthew wrote one book; Mark wrote one; Luke wrote the gospel of Luke and Acts; John wrote five books; Peter wrote two; James wrote one; Jude wrote one; the Hebrews author is unknown, but it could have been Paul; Paul wrote thirteen books, possibly fourteen of the 27 books of the New Testament. Only Matthew, Peter, and John were of the original twelve apostles. There are subjects in the writings of Paul that are found nowhere else in the Bible. God gave him a great ministry.
Principle:
God has a special place for each of us in his service.
Application:
Have you taken the time to find out what special place God has for you in his service? Are you fully discharging your responsibility for getting the gospel out?
