Colossians 1: 24-25 Cornerstone Baptist Church May 20, 2007
A bar of steel is worth just a few dollars.
When it is forged into a set of wrenches, it is worth approximately $100.
If that same bar of steel is made into many needles, it can be worth several hundred dollars.
If it is made into fine surgical instruments, it is worth thousands of dollars.
If it is made into tiny springs that are placed into delicate mechanisms, it can be worth tens of thousands of dollars.
But consider the process of change that piece of steel undergoes as it becomes something more valuable.
It is handled, it is hammered, it is forged through a fire.
It is beaten, pounded and polished to become something of greater value.
It is the same with people: Those who suffer most are the ones who are capable of yielding the most.
Through the difficulties of suffering and pain, God can get the most out of us.
Some of the world’s greatest and most useful people have suffered a physical handicap. Helen Keller was not born blind and deaf, but at nineteen months of age she came down with an illness that caused it.
She went on to accomplish much in life that blessed those around her.
On September 14, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson awarded Helen Keller the Presidential Medal of Freedom, one of the United States’ highest civilian honors.
I have heard Joni Eareckson Tada say many times that God has used her handicap for His glory as He enabled her to triumph through her affliction.
From today’s text in Colossians 1:24-25, I want to point out several things to you:
Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. [25] I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness--
First, the Apostle Paul suffered.
In fact, Paul suffered very much for the sake of the Gospel of Jesus.
He shared some facts with us about that suffering in 2 Cor. 11:23-28
…… I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. [24] Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. [25] Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, [26] I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. [27] I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. [28] Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.
In spite of such suffering for the gospel…in spite of such suffering because of his concern for the church….Paul could still say in Col. 1:24……….
Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you………
The church today needs people like Paul….servants who are willing to suffer for the gospel…..servants who are willing to suffer for the church….which is the body of Christ. Paul was a man who would go to any length of suffering in order to reach and grow people for Jesus.
He gave it his all: he suffered much….and did so willingly for the cause of Christ and His church……That is the message of verse 24.
Secondly, then,… we can expect to suffer.
I believe God also wants us to “fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions.”
When Jesus was here on earth, He loved the church and gave Himself for it.
He gave His heart and even His life for the church.
Not for some church building….but for God’s people.
Jesus served, labored, and suffered to the point of exhaustion to reach and minister to people.
He did whatever was necessary in order to build up the church.
That is the pattern He left for all those who would follow after Him.
When He left the earth, He expected believers to follow in His steps, to give their lives to suffer whatever is necessary to reach and minister to people.
That’s what cross-bearing is all about.
Jesus expects every believer to sacrifice for the church, to suffer for the church: to complete the church, to bring it to fruition…to its full measure; to fill it up to the fulness of His will.
Think about what it means to “fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions.”
Working for Christ on this earth is not easy.
Serving within the church in this world is not easy.
Certainly, the devil is behind that….he is part of the reason.
But the difficulties we encounter as we seek to work for the Lord and His church are also due to the ideas and behavior of men toward Christ and His church.
Why did they stone Stephen in Acts 7?
Why was John the Baptist beheaded?
Why were people persecuted in the early church?
Why were so many martyred in the early church?
Why are Christians still being persecuted in some places today?
When you come right down to it…it’s because of Jesus and the righteousness He represents.
You know, the enemies of Jesus are still trying to afflict Him.
When He came into Jerusalem, they welcomed Him and laid palm branches on the road while shouting “Hosanna!”
Just a few days later, they were shouting “Crucify Him!”
How quickly they turned on Him.
Men are corrupt.
They look at Jesus and His church and they think there’s no purpose in it all.
Oh, Christianity might be OK if you keep it in it’s place.
The church can do good stuff in the community….just don’t preach at me.
You can tell us what’s moral….but don’t you preach Jesus.
You can be religious if that’s your thing….just don’t preach Jesus to me.
Isn’t that so?
Go into a school and start telling people about Jesus and you will be unwelcome in a hurry.
In today’s world, cursing the name of Jesus is more acceptable than praising it.
The world hates Jesus.
When He was here, he was the recipient of that hatred.
Nowadays, believers are the recipients.
If you think I’m wrong, ….make yourself a placard that says “Jesus is the only way to heaven.”
Take it down on Arsenal Street and stand there next to the street and wave it around.
I suspect you’d get a lot of horn-blowing and obscene gestures.
Why?....because the world rejects the One who taught what your placard says.
No, the world isn’t finished with hating Jesus yet. ..they’d like to beat Him some more.
As a consequence, the church/believers now receive the blows intended for Him.
The blows today are administered in some different ways….ridicule, laughter, discrimination, censorship….Sometimes those things are just as hurtful as a beating.
That’s bad enough…but on top of that…we encounter people within the church who profess Jesus and join His church… but they have no commitment to either.
They don’t show up for worship.
They don’t participate.
They are complacent….and without any genuine concern for others.
They don’t support the church financially or otherwise.
They have no vision.
For many, Christianity is not a way of life…it is only religion…and hence, it is really just hypocrisy.
Even worse yet…there are some within the church who are worldly, carnal, divisive, critical, or constantly complaining without a just cause.
Stuff like that causes a lot of suffering for a genuine servant of Christ….and for the church as a whole as well.
It hurts the body of Christ emotionally and spiritually.
A real servant wants people to know Jesus and the abundance of life that He brings.
A real servant wants people to grow into the image of Jesus and to keep their eyes fixed upon the hope of glory which will be given to every true believer.
A real servant knows that without Jesus men are lost and doomed to judgment.
And so, a real servant of the Lord suffers whatever burden and pain is necessary to reach and grow people.
Jesus left us here to tend the store…He expects us to minister to others in His absence.
The Apostle Paul suffered
We can also expect to suffer
Third, Suffering benefits the church
The first Christians considered it a privilege when they suffered for Christ.
Acts 5:41
The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.
Paul wrote in Philippians 1:29
For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him,
People, it ought to be our joy if we suffer somehow for Christ….for His church…and for all that Christianity represents.
Think about it…..suffering brings us closer to Jesus.
If we suffer, we can better understand and appreciate what He suffered for us.
Again, Paul wrote in Philippians 3:10
I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
Through our suffering, we come to know the reality of our faith.
Jesus said in John 15:18
"If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.
Count the cost people….as we come to Christ, we must expect to suffer for that decision.
2 Tim. 3:12 says…….
……… everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,
But Jesus is present with us through every trial and in all our suffering for Him.
The Spirit of God is never nearer than He is when we are suffering or being persecuted because of Jesus.
Peter wrote in 1 Peter 4:14
If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.
We can be sure that Christ will reward us as we suffer for Him,
because we read in 2 Cor. 4:17 ………..
For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
Our willingness to suffer for the Lord is a powerful witness to others of the sincerity of our faith.
Titus 2:7-8
In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness [8] and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say….
In one sense, Christ continues to suffer when Christians suffer for Him.
In the book of Acts, we read that Saul was persecuting every Christian he could get a hold of.
Jesus asked him on the Damascus Road before his conversion, “Why do you persecute Me?” ….not “my people”…not “my church”….. but “Why do you persecute Me?”
You see, since the church is Christ’s body, He suffers when it suffers.
For the sake of Christ’s body the Apostle Paul willingly suffered.
As you and I represent Christ, we must expect the world’s scorn, ridicule, and hatred.
As Col. 1:24 says, expect to “fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions.”
Christ is in heaven now.
They can’t do anything more to Him directly.
Expect the hatred to turn on you.
Don’t be surprised by it.
But be sure of this…Suffering benefits the church.
Paul wrote in 2 Tim. 2:10
Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.
And in 2 Cor. 1:5 the Apostle wrote:
For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.
That is the benefit of suffering for Christ….it’s in the overflow.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union some years ago, many in the West were surprised and elated to discover there a church of great strength and commitment.
It was a church that was severely persecuted under the hand of one tyrant after another…yet it grew and prospered in Christ.
Their comfort in Him was overflowing!
In the midst of having little….in the midst of their suffering….THEY HAD JESUS!
Look with me at Col. 1:25 …..Paul wrote…
I have become its servant (the church) by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness—
Paul was a God-ordained servant of the precious truth of the Word of God in its fullness.
He was chosen before time began to fulfill the Word … he was commissioned to make the Word of God fully known.
Brothers and sisters, we have been chosen to do the same thing.
We also have a commission to serve in the church….in fact, we have a great commission……
Matthew 28:19-20
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, [20] and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
Jesus suffered for the redemption of the church…..He has accomplished that.
Our suffering is only a slight taste of the cup of affliction from which Jesus drank deeply. As Christians we fill up that which remains of the sufferings of Christ, when we take up his cross, and after the example set by Him, patiently endure the afflictions God has given us.
How are you handling the suffering for Christ that comes your way?
How do you deal with it when somebody ridicules your faith in Jesus?
Do you just muddle through and hang your head in shame and embarrassment when somebody snickers?
Are you just hunkering down and getting by?
Are you in survival mode?
Do you ever speak up about Him?
Paul wrote here in verse 25 of the “Word of God in its fullness”.
Let that same Word direct your eyes toward heaven.
May you get a fresh glimpse of Jesus there.
May you regain your sense of union with Him.
Remember the words of James 1:2 ………..
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials (could be difficulties, troubles, pain, suffering) of many kinds,
May you simply get up and rejoice!
Tell the scoffers, the ridiculers and the doubters the reason for your hope and for your joy.
Share with them fully and faithfully the truth of the Gospel…. declare the whole counsel of God, and continue to live faithfully before them.
As Paul said in Romans 12:12
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
