Servant of the Church - Colossians 1:24-29

2:24Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake. And in my flesh, I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, of which I became a servant according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you to make the word of God fully known. The mystery hidden for ages and generations, but now revealed to his saints. To them, God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the Glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy, that he powerfully works within me. Pray with me one more time.

3:25Father, we pray that you would help us as we study this passage. It is a treat for us to examine how you worked through the Apostle Paul. And I pray, Lord, that you would help us this morning to understand his ministry and also to share in his attitude as he seeks to serve the church. I pray, Lord, that you would help us have that same attitude. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, Paul begins in verse 24 with a description of his ministry, saying that he finds joy in his sufferings. He finds joy in his sufferings. And we know that Paul is certainly a sufferer, right? We hear about that throughout the book of Acts and through his letters. He is being beaten, he's being shipwrecked, he's being imprisoned, he is certainly suffering. And what he's saying here. Is even in those sufferings, he is rejoicing. He's rejoicing that he gets to suffer for the Lord. And he's putting into practice, if you remember, verse 11 of chapter 1, his hope for the Colossians is that they would be strengthened, verse 11, with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy. And so he's hoping that the Colossians will share in this as well, as they're being persecuted, as they're having to endure trials, he hopes that they will do it with joy. And now he's saying that's exactly what he's doing. He's rejoicing that he gets to suffer for the Lord.

5:10He's also continuing the legacy of the early apostles. You remember the story in Acts? After they were in prison in Acts 5, they were released. And what they said was that they were rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name of Jesus. It's an amazing attitude, right? And this is Paul's attitude. And it's surprising to find someone say that they're rejoicing in these sufferings. But what might be even more surprising is what he says next. Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake.

5:49For your sake. He's saying that he is suffering on behalf of the Colossians. But remember, he's never actually even been there, he's never interacted with the Church at Colossi. He's only interacted with them through Epaphras. And yet he's saying he's suffering for their sake. So, what does he mean when he says this? He's going to tell us. So, we're going to keep reading. Now, I rejoice in my suffering for your sake. And in my flesh, I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church. I fill up in my flesh that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ. It's a strange statement, right? I fill up what is lacking in my flesh of the affliction of Christ. The word, fill up what is lacking, is a word that's only used here. And it seems to be this idea that he's completing the afflictions of Christ. There is a certain amount, and kind of like a cup that needs to be full. Paul is going to fill up the rest. So he's going to fill up the afflictions, fill up in his flesh that which is lacking in the afflictions of Christ. And many assume, many Christians assume that this is kind of a generic statement that we can all make about our own ministry, right? Maybe we want to share the gospel with a friend, and we know that Christ has done the hard part of suffering, and so now we need to do the last leg of the journey and suffer and share the gospel with them, and we join in the afflictions of Christ. Christ in that way. I think that that can be a helpful principle, right? We do need to be willing to suffer for the Lord and reach out. And I think that that can be an application of this text. But I think what Paul is saying here is that he has a special ministry of suffering. He has a unique suffering that no one else shares in.

7:55We're going to turn to a couple passages and examine that. Turn for a moment to Isaiah 49. Isaiah 49. We studied this a few weeks ago in the young adult Sunday school class. Isaiah 49. The Lord is speaking about a servant, a special servant, if you remember. And this servant is going to come, and his mission is to bring back Israel to himself. And the servant's going to be obedient and do what he is supposed to. Look at Isaiah 49, verse 1. Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention, you peoples from afar. The Lord called me from the womb. From the body of my mother, he named my name. He made my mouth like a sharp sword. In the shadow of his hand, he hid me. He made me a polished arrow. In his quiver, he hid me away. And he said to me, You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified. But I said, I have labored in vain. I have spent my strength for nothing in vanity, yet surely my right is with the Lord and my recompense with my God. Verse 5. And now the Lord says, He who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him, that Israel might be gathered to him, for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord, and my God has become my strength. Pause for just a second. What's happening is God has identified this servant who's going to come, who has the mission of bringing Israel back to the Lord. But the servant is discouraged, and it seems like all his work has been for no reason, that he's been suffering these things for no purpose. Well, God says, the very one who appointed him, this is what he says, verse 6.

9:47It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel. I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth. So he says, it is too small of a thing, it's too light of a thing for this servant to bring back Israel only. Instead, he's going to also be a light to the nations. Now, who is that? It's the Messiah, right? It's Jesus Christ. He's the one who is the light to the nations. Okay, now turn to Acts 13. Acts 13.

10:43In Acts 13, Paul is speaking. We're going to be in verse 45. Acts 13, 45. Paul is speaking to the community at Antioch, and people are responding to his teaching, and a bunch of people are turning up to hear him teach again. And as they do, the Jews start to get jealous. Look at Acts 13, verse 45. But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him. And so they're working against Paul because they're jealous that the crowds are going to him and not to them.

11:23Well, Paul says, verse 46, and Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you, that's the Jews, since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth. Does that sound familiar? That's the passage that we just read in Isaiah, speaking. About the Messiah. So, what is Paul saying when he says, For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth. When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. I think what Paul is saying is that he has a special job of getting that light out. The light is the Messiah, right? But Paul has a special job of spreading that light for the Lord out to the Gentiles. He has brought it before the Jews, and they have rejected him. And he's saying here that now that light is going to go out to the Gentiles, and he's taking that as his commission. One more passage, Acts 9, just a few chapters earlier, just to get this idea about Paul's ministry. In Acts 9, if you remember, Paul is named Saul still, before his name changes to Paul. And he is persecuting the church. And he is ravaging the church, and he's currently on his way in chapter 9 to go to Damascus to persecute the church some more. And the Lord appears to him and says, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And Paul is struck blind. And the Lord speaks to a servant named Ananias, a Christian named Ananias. And he says, He tells Ananias to go and speak to Saul and tell him something. But Ananias, look at verse 13. Ananias is frightened because he knows who Saul is and he knows what he does. He kills believers. Look at verse 13. Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name. And so Ananias responds to the Lord and says, I know who this guy is. He's the one who's killing all the Christians, and he has authority to do that here as well. But listen to what the Lord says back to him. Verse 15. But the Lord said to him, Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.

14:32So Paul does have a special commission, right? He is a chosen instrument that God has specifically designed for the task of spreading the gospel to everyone, including the Gentiles, including even kings. This is Paul's special commission, and part of that special commission is his suffering. That's what he says. I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name. Okay, now. Turn back to Colossians 1. We have wandered all around. But the point that I wanted us to see is that Paul has a unique ministry, a ministry that's defined by including the Gentiles and spreading the message of Christ to them, but it's also defined by suffering. And here in Colossians 1:24, he says, Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I'm filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is the church. And I think he's referring to this special commission when he says this. We know that he doesn't mean when he says, I'm filling up what's lacking in Christ's affliction, we know that he doesn't mean in regards to salvation, right? He's not saying that Jesus' sacrifice only covered this much of our sins and Paul has to do the rest, right? That is not what he's saying. We know that from the rest of Scripture, that makes certain that Jesus' sacrifice was all that was needed for our full and total forgiveness, right?

16:10Instead, I think he's mentioning this commission. I think Paul is saying that he is continuing the work of Jesus Christ. Just like it says at the beginning of Acts, do you remember this? At the beginning of Acts, it says Luke is speaking to Theophilus, and he says, in my last book, I told you all that Jesus began to do and teach. Implying that he's still doing these things through the apostles and through Paul. And in the book of Matthew, Jesus says, I will build my church, right? And so I think the idea is: yes, Paul is this chosen instrument, but it's the Lord that's doing this. And Paul is the agent through whom he's doing it, and he's suffering for it. Okay?

16:52So who does he say that he's suffering for? For the sake of his body, that is the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, the task from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known. So Paul suffers this way for the sake of the church. He's fulfilling his commission. He's being dutiful to complete the stewardship, the task that's been given him, even though it means suffering for the sake of the church. This is why he was able to say, for your sake, earlier, talking to the Colossian church, which he's never been to, right?

17:36This was his commission from God. Now, as we think about these things, I think it's important for us to pause and just be grateful that God raised up a man like this, that it was in God's plan to use Paul to suffer in this way. God was the one who did this, and he deserves the glory, right? We at a Emmanuel Baptist, we get to benefit from the work that Paul did. We get to read his letters because the Lord has preserved them for us, right? We get to benefit from his example, hearing about his actions for the Lord. And we get to benefit from his defense that Jesus is the Messiah and that Christ can be believed by Jew and Gentile. All of this work God did through Paul as he spread the message to the Gentiles.

18:31But another application that I think is important for us to remember is that we also can suffer in this way with joy. We don't have this special unique commission like Paul does, at least not as unique as his, and we'll likely never suffer as much as Paul did. But I think the main point in what Paul is saying is that even though he's experiencing these sufferings for the Lord, he's rejoicing. He's finding joy that he gets to serve the Lord in this way. And I think that this should be our attitude as well, right? I think we can be humbled by this because sometimes when we are presented with an opportunity to serve the church, maybe it's not appealing, or maybe it's hard work, or maybe it's something that we're not comfortable with, or something like that. And I think it's important to look back at ourselves and say, even when it's difficult, even when we're suffering, we can rejoice. In the Lord. Rejoice that he's using us.

19:34So, the first aspect of Paul's ministry that we saw was a joy, the joy of suffering. The second aspect of Paul's ministry is this: a mystery, a mystery. Look at verse 26: The mystery hidden for ages and generations, but now revealed to his saints. To them, God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ and you, the hope of glory. The mystery hidden from ages and generations. So, Paul is continuing to describe his commission from the Lord, his ministry before the Lord. And he says that after he says that he is fully revealing the word or making the word known, he says that part of that is that Paul is revealing a mystery. And it was a mystery that was hidden for ages and generations.

20:37It makes you want to keep reading, right? This mystery. What is it? He says, This mystery has been revealed to the saints. And he says that these saints, who are his saints, those to whom God desired to make known the glorious riches of this mystery. It's getting even more enticing, right? We want to hear about this mystery. Inside of this mystery are glorious riches among the Gentiles. So, what is this mystery? Why does he use this word? What is it?

21:13Well, in his other letters, Paul often uses this word for mystery. And what it usually means is something that the Lord has revealed part of, but maybe not all the way in the Old Testament. Or maybe the Lord has promised something, but then not said exactly how he's going to bring it about or when it's going to happen or something like that. And so it becomes a mystery how God is going to work this out. And this mystery through Paul will be revealed. And usually in Paul's letter, the mystery is the gospel. It's some aspect of the gospel, either the gospel message itself or some aspect of it. And here, what I think it is, is that the gospel has gone out to the Gentiles as well as the Jew.

22:04If this is new for all of you, remember that the Jews were God's chosen people in the Old Testament. And they considered themselves the recipients. And if they weren't reading carefully, maybe they even consider themselves the sole recipients of all of God's blessings. But God had made it clear all along that God was blessing the family of Abraham because he's going to use them to bless the nations as well. And so now Paul is revealing that Christ is able to be in the Gentiles as well. This is the more fully revealed mystery that he's talking about. Christ in you, the hope of glory. That's what he says the mystery is, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. So the Gentiles as well can come and share in Christ, even in the church of Colossi. They can have Christ in them changing their hearts and causing them to love his word. They get to share in these glorious riches. And we ourselves get to share in these glorious riches, right? If we come to the Lord, we also are able to come to him. We also are able to have this hope of glory that he talks about. The hope of glory is our joyful expectation as we look forward to being with Christ. We get to look forward to it because we know that when he comes, we're not going to be judged because we'll be forgiven, right? And if you have never taken the step to become a Christian, if you've never become a believer in Jesus Christ, I want you to know that this is our hope. It's our hope and glory.

23:50Though we don't deserve it, Christ has made a way for us to be fully forgiven so that when he appears, we're going to be made like him. We're going to be perfection. We're going to be glorified. That's our hope. That's why we come here and we sing and we rejoice and we serve the Lord. And Christians, those of you who are already Christians, I encourage you to dwell on this treasure that you have, right? This mystery that's been revealed to you. For ages and generations, that's a long time, right? For ages and generations, the prophets sought to know about this mystery that you were able to just read about and know right away. They were eagerly anticipating these truths and how they were happening. How was the light going to be spread out to the Gentiles? And we already get to know.

24:47Now, if you haven't noticed, Paul is using a run-on sentence. Maybe the run-on sentence of all run-on sentences. He is, in the original language, verse 24 through 29 is all one sentence. The whole passage that we're studying this morning. And he keeps branching off and having these kind of tangents about his ministry. And it's like he springs off the last word he says. So he says that he rejoices in his sufferings, that he's suffering for the church, the church that he's revealing the mystery to, and the mystery is Christ. And then he says, Says, Christ we proclaim. So you see, he's kind of just stepping through in this long sentence. And Christ, when he says, him we proclaim, that's the third aspect of Paul's ministry that we're going to look at today. The third aspect of Paul's ministry is a mission. He has a mission. He says in verse 28, him we proclaim. Christ we proclaim. As he's traveling around to these different synagogues and speaking to all these Jews and Gentiles, he has one message, and it's Christ. That's who he's proclaiming. And that simplifies it for us as well, right? If we're trying to share in the mission of Paul, then we can remember that if we want to join in that mission, we have one message as well, and that's the person, Jesus Christ.

26:23If we are explaining who he is and what he's done and what that means, then we are doing the same thing that Paul is doing. And Paul goes on to describe this proclamation, verse 28, Him we proclaim in two ways. Warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom. Warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom. That word for warning or admonishing is for those who need to be corrected, maybe in the way that they're thinking. Wrongly about the Lord, or even living wrongly with immoral deeds, they need to be admonished or corrected. And then, on the other hand, he also says he's teaching with all wisdom. He's guiding in an orderly way. He's guiding these new believers into a knowledge of the truth, into all wisdom, is what he says. In his goal, he says, so that we may present everyone perfect or mature in Christ. That's what he's trying to do. As he's proclaiming the Lord, he's warning them and he's teaching them, trying to get them to be mature in Christ. And we get to copy that today, right? That's still our goal. For ourselves personally, right? We need to be putting ourselves in a position where we are constantly learning from the word so that we can grow in all wisdom and become mature.

27:54Maybe that's coming to church. It is coming to church to hear the word preached, right, in an orderly way so we can be taught and grow. But it's also reading the word for ourselves and trying to understand and mine all the truth from it that we can. But we also submit to the brothers and sisters in Christ for admonishment and warning. We open our lives to be examined by brothers and sisters in the body so that we're growing in that way as well. And our goal is to become mature in the faith. And we can also copy this. In the way that we help others be mature, right? We can keep an eye out and help teach our brothers and sisters in Christ. We can keep an eye out and help warn our brothers and sisters in Christ if they're trapped in a sin.

28:45When we do this, we're doing what Paul is doing. And look, notice also that he keeps repeating this idea of everyone, admonishing everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom so that we may present everyone mature in Christ. He's doing this for everyone, Jew and Gentile, he's including everybody, that this is his goal. This is the same goal for everyone, that they would become mature in Christ, that they would know the scriptures and know who Christ is and live accordingly. We've seen throughout the letter that this is Paul's goal, maturity for the Colossian church.

29:28And he doesn't just sit back and wishfully think about this, right? He doesn't just hope that they'll become mature. Look at verse 29. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy, that he powerfully works within me. Paul isn't just hoping for this and then sitting back and hoping it'll happen. No, he's actually giving everything for this, right? The language he's using is like an intense athlete. If you remember, last year, in October, the most beloved baseball team in all of history won the World Series, the Houston Astros. And I remember over the winter, when they're supposed to be in the offseason, in order to get people excited again, they'd send out these promotional videos of the players, especially the third baseman. And he would be working out. It was like him in the gym. And it would flash the words never settle and play cool music. And he's sweating and screaming and lifting weight that I will never be able to lift in my life. And the idea is that he is intensely working out. He is toiling. And that's the same idea that Paul is saying here. For this, I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me. He's not being lazy about this. He's doing everything he can because it's so important to him that believers are mature in Christ.

31:12And yet, he still acknowledges that it's God's energy powerfully working in him. He still acknowledges that it's God who gets the glory and who's using him as his chosen instrument, like we saw earlier. I think that again, we. We can pause for a moment and consider ourselves, right, in comparison to Paul. And again, Paul does have this unique ministry. But I do think that we still can ask ourselves, are we putting forth even close to this kind of effort for the maturity of our brothers and sisters in Christ and the maturity of ourselves as we grow in the word? Maybe this means disciplining ourselves in our minds so that we're working hard to grow in the truth. Or maybe it means working hard to help others grow in the truth. But I think that it's important for us to pause and say, how lazy have we been about this? When we look at Paul and see how much he's toiling, I think it's a good example for us to work hard for it and not just sit back and wait for the Lord to come back.

32:24And we can pray that the Lord will supply us with his energy, just like Paul says here, to work and to toil for this purpose. So we have covered a lot of verses today. Paul has described his ministry, several aspects of his ministry, in detail. He's truly a servant of the church. He's a servant of the gospel. And all of this, because he's a servant of God. Let's read this long sentence once more, just to see if we can get a big picture idea. Look at verse 24.

33:01Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions, for the sake of his body that is the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations, but now revealed to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me. Paul is suffering in the flesh. He's imprisoned right now as he's writing this letter. Yet he's able to have joy in the suffering. He's able to have joy because he knows that this suffering is for a purpose. He's fulfilling his commission to share about this special mystery, that Christ is available to everyone, no matter the nation, and that in Christ we can have the hope of glory. And Paul toils with all of his might to help those in Christ grow in maturity. As we look at this text, we can be grateful for the work that Paul did. In the way that the Lord used him. And we should try and share in Paul's attitude, right?

34:37That Paul was willing to suffer for the sake of the church, and that Paul was eager to toil for the goal of helping Christians mature in the faith. Let's pray. Father, we thank you that you opened up the way of salvation to us all. And I pray, Lord, for those here who have never trusted in you. I pray, Lord, that you would convict them of their sin and cause them to turn to you and realize that they need this hope of glory, they need this forgiveness.

35:18And Lord, I pray for all of us that we would toil and that we would be willing to suffer for the goal of helping others become mature in the faith and the goal of becoming mature in the faith ourselves. I pray that you'd help us share in this attitude of Paul, this joy and suffering. In Jesus' name, amen.