Peace and Resurrection - Pt 4

Now 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. (Colossians 1:24-27 ESV).

I have found that the single most difficult task we have been given in applying the principles of hope in our lives is to embrace risk for Jesus. It will look different for all of us, but it will be the embrace of risk. It may be the embrace of suffering; or, it may be the embrace of pathways of love that you know will be costly. This kind of risk is always costly; however, the only kinds of lives that are really going to change people are those kinds of lives. This is the kind of radicalism of the Apostle Paul. We see it in our reading today. He says, “Now I rejoice in my sufferings” (v. 24). That’s a very strange statement for him to make at first glance. However, he’s talking to the church when he says your. Now 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. That sounds heretical. It is almost as if he thinks he’s got to suffer to add to an unfinished work of Jesus. We know from Paul’s own writings there was nothing lacking in his atoning work. The afflictions of Christ were the price that bought our forgiveness of sins. The afflictions of Christ were the place where all the wrath of God was absorbed for all those who would trust in him so that nobody who trusts in Jesus would ever have God wrathful at them anymore. The afflictions of Christ are the consummation of his earthly obedience so that a perfect righteousness is wrought out for you, so that when you trust in him, that righteousness is counted as yours, so that when you stand before an all holy God, he sees perfect righteousness and welcomes you into everlasting joy. There is nothing lacking in the atoning worth of Christ’s afflictions. What the apostle is saying is that there must be a personal, in-the-flesh, presentation to those for whom Jesus suffered. That comes from the community of faith. God designed that the sufferings of his Son, for all the centuries following, would be carried and presented to people in the sufferings of his people. Your sufferings do not sneak up on you as though they were some extrinsic and strange and foreign thing that has nothing to do with God’s purpose for the world. The church is being gathered. The church is being strengthened. The church is being built up, inspired, and sent through the sufferings of its members. Any suffering that comes into the life of a believer is designed to bless somebody. Don’t waste it. Rejoice in it and KNOW that it ends in the wonder of resurrection and glory! There’s the secret to peace in our affliction. Not only does it merely result in our own glory and elevation, it also serves to call out clearly to others the message of the gospel. No matter how dark it gets, there’s the light at the end of all!