What Does THE Church Look Like? Pt 3 - Colossians 1:24-29

In the past two weeks, we have talked about the cultural setting of the New Testament.  Most Christians who are familiar with their Bibles understand or have been taught that the Jews of the first century hated the Romans who ruled over them.  Most Christians seem to understand there was an animosity on the part of the Jews towards Gentiles in general.  But few seem to understand it was the fear of God’s wrath that drove much of that hatred towards non-Jews.  

The prophets of the Old Testament spoke MUCH about the judgment of God against Israel if the people did not repent.  The majority of their prophesying was about the Babylonians who eventually came.  After 70 years of exile under the Babylonians, the Jews were cured of intermingling with Gentiles and worshiping their false gods.  Out of fear of yet another punishment from God, the Jews became very exclusive.  That exclusivity gradually grew into national bigotry toward anything non-Jewish.  

It was the fear of a repeat of God’s judgment upon them that partially drove the hatred and intolerance of the Jews against Jesus.  They saw Him as a threat because He was claiming to be the Promised Messiah.  But that in itself was not enough.  Jesus also made enemies of the Sanhedrin, the religious rulers of Israel made up of the Sadducees and the Pharisees who had led the charge for Jewish exclusivity and purity for several hundred years.  They were zealous, not only for the Law of Moses, but also for their own system of man-made rules which they made equal with the Scriptures.  The traditions of the elders held as much authority as the Old Testament in Israel in the first century.  

So when this young rabbi Jesus repeatedly violated the Sanhedrin's version of the Sabbath Law, the Pharisees and the Sadducees panicked.  Jesus spoke out against them and on one occasion referred to them as “sons of Hell”.  The number of His followers began to grow and Jesus’ popularity increased.  Therefore the Pharisees, who considered themselves to be the teachers of Israel and the guardians of pure Judaism, sought to kill Jesus.  This was, in part, an attempt to protect themselves and the people of Israel from reverting into what they perceived to be false religion.  Of course there was jealousy and envy and hatred, but they also were in fear of God’s anger.  They wanted more than anything else to be delivered from the rule of the Gentiles over them.     

So here is the scenario as we open Gospels of the New Testament:  
1. The Jews hate everything non-Jewish,
2. The obviously non-Jewish Romans rule the entire world for all practical purposes, with an iron fist,
3. And in John, chapter 3, Jesus sits down with a Pharisee and tells Him God loves the nations and has sent Him to redeem both Jews and Gentiles from their sins.  A more foreign message to a more unlikely convert could not have been spoken.

After the crucifixion, after the resurrection, after Jesus’ ascension into Heaven, after the giving of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, and after the beginning of the persecution of Christians in Jerusalem and Judea, in Acts chapter 9, God saves a Pharisee named Saul whose name is changed to Paul.  His specific mission, given directly to him by the risen Lord Jesus, is that he will take the message of salvation to people to whom it has never been preached before: Gentiles.  Paul, the self-proclaimed “Pharisee of the Pharisees”, is given the task of taking the good news of salvation to Gentiles.  Speaking to some of those Gentiles who have believed in the Lord Jesus, he says this in Colossians 1:

24 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, 25 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, 26 the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. 27 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. 28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.

Verse 24 - If we were sloppy in our reading and preaching of this text, we could lift a portion of verse 24 off the page and make the case that Paul was nuts.  He says there, “I rejoice in my sufferings.”  If we stopped there and only quoted that small portion of that verse out of its context, we could say, “The Bible says Paul was a sick man because he rejoiced in suffering.  What kind of man is happy when he’s in pain and agony?  We usually call such people masochists.  They get some kind of warped pleasure from experiencing pain.  That’s the kind of guy who wrote much of the New Testament!”  Sounds like an argument an atheist would come up with to denigrate the Bible.

Look at the text again:  24 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, 25 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 . . . .

What is it that Paul rejoices in here in this text?  Does he enjoy being stoned (nearly killed with rocks, not the other “stoned”), imprisoned, beaten, dragged out of town and left for dead?  No.  Paul is saying that the sufferings and afflictions that accompany the preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles is worth the trouble for their sakes!  His joy is in seeing God move amongst these people to bring multitudes of them to salvation through his preaching.  The Gentiles are experiencing for the first time in thousands of years, the saving grace of God in Jesus Christ.  Paul is THE missionary, the chosen and appointed emissary by Jesus Himself, to take this message of redemption to the world, to the nations, to the Gentiles!

Imagine what it must have been like to have been taught that the only people in the world who could possibly have a right relationship with the true and living God were the people of Israel.  Imagine believing the Gentile world, all the nations of the earth except for little Israel, were disqualified for eternal life because they were not Jewish.  Imagine teaching that as a respected member of the Sanhedrin  in Israel.  And imagine Paul’s surprise, his utter amazement to learn that God not only intended to save many non-Jews, but that God had chosen HIM to be His primary messenger of the Gospel to the nations!  Yet another very unlikely candidate for God’s work.

So in Acts 13, Paul and his friend Barnabas are commissioned by his church family in Antioch and are sent out to evangelize the world:

1 Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a member of the court of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off. 4 So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus.

It is this very first missionary enterprise into the Gentile world which will bring Paul much suffering.  But he rejoices in this high calling!  Even in his suffering, and struggling, and afflictions and persecution, he is glad to do this for the sake of the salvation of the Gentiles.  He has been sent to them by the Holy Spirit, he has preached this mystery of Christ as their hope of glory, and he has seen God move in their hearts to transform them into children of God.  The apostle John said much the same thing as Paul when he wrote to his friend Gaius in 3 John:

There is great joy on the part of the evangelist when his spiritual children are walking and living according to the truth of the Gospel.  Even if that experience only comes after much toil and pain and suffering, the afflictions are worth it when the spiritual children are born again.  The pain of childbirth is shortlived compared to the great joy that comes from seeing one’s child and loving him.

That is the kind of rejoicing Paul is talking about in Colossians.  The Gentiles have come to faith in Christ as a result of Paul’s sufferings on their behalf, but he is glad to do so for their sakes!  

Look at verse once again: 24 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 . . . .

Once again, people who play fast and loose with the Scriptures could have a field day with this verse if it was isolated from the rest of the New Testament.  Someone might read this and say, “Jesus’ sufferings were not enough to save us.  That is why God sent the apostle Paul along, in order to complete what was lacking in Christ’s suffering on the cross.  Both Jesus and Paul had to suffer to pay for our sins.”  

You and I know that is heresy.  But people who don’t read the Bible and who lack discernment could be, and often are led far astray from what the Bible actually teaches.  This text is NOT saying Paul somehow contributed to God’s redemption of His people by adding Paul’s sufferings to Christ’s.  It is NOT saying that the sufferings of Jesus upon the cross were inadequate or insufficient to save His elect people.  So what does Paul mean when he says, “I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions”?

To put it very simply, Paul is saying that Jesus never went to the Gentiles.  Jesus never left Israel.  He is saying that suffering is always a part of the propagation of the Gospel message, and what Jesus did not do among the Gentiles, Paul is now doing as an ambassador, as an apostle of Christ.  Had the Lord Jesus gone to the nations of Asia Minor or to the people of North Africa, He would have suffered there as He did in Israel for the sake of the redemption of His people.  But now He has sent Paul, and just as Jesus said to him in Acts 9, Paul is indeed suffering among the Gentiles for the sake of the name of Jesus. 

“. . . [T]he Lord said to [Ananias], “Go [to Saul], for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. 16 For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”   

That is the suffering which Jesus left “unsuffered”.  And people who share the Gospel message have been suffering ever since.  Whenever the Gospel is taken to those who do not yet believe it, that proclamation always involves suffering of some kind.  The reason for this is because the fallen world hates God.  There is a universal hatred of Jesus Christ and the Gospel.  Consequently, the world hates His messengers.  But we go anyway.  We go out of obedience to His command, but we also go for the joy of seeing God’s people drawn to Himself through the message preached.  We rejoice when we see people delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of His beloved Son, just as we were.
 
That is the joy of Paul’s heart, in spite of the suffering.  His suffering among the Gentiles is in keeping with, or consistent with Christ’s suffering among the Jews.  But it is suffering for the sake of those Christ came to save.  Look at the text again:

24 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, 25 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, 26 the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. 27 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.

I want you to look with me at another passage written by Paul which sheds more light on this.  Turn to Ephesians 5.  This is a passage regarding the relationship between a man and his wife.  But Paul likens a man’s love for his wife to Christ’s love for His bride, the Church.

25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

According to this text, who does Christ love?  The Church!  “Christ loved the church . . . [N]o one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church!”  According to this text, for whom did Christ die?  The Church!  “He gave Himself up for her!“  These verses about husbands loving their wives are a profound mystery because they are also directly derived from the love of Christ for His Church.  

But someone will say, “Well, who exactly is ‘the Church’”?  According to this passage, and many others, the Church consists of all those people for whom Jesus gave His life and were redeemed by His blood.  The Church is that group of people for whom He gave Himself upon the cross as a substitute.  The Bible refers to them often in the New Testament as “God’s elect”.  The Church is Christ’s flock, Christ’s sheep whom the Father gave to Him (John 10:29).  The Church consists of those sheep for whom the Good Shepherd lays down His life (John 10:11).  It is to these sheep, these people who hear His voice and follow Him, it is to them that He gives eternal life.  They are the Church.  

The Church is comprised of every person whom God has predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son (Roman 8:29).  The Church consists of every person whom God predestines to be like Jesus, and calls to salvation by means of the Gospel, and justifies through the death of His Son on their behalf, and glorifies in Heaven (Romans 8:30).  

The Church is made up of all those who have the faith of Abraham (Romans 4:16), who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 16:31), who were chosen by God in Christ before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4).  The Church which the Scriptures speak of consists of every person anywhere in the world, at any point in time, to whom God makes known the mystery of His will to save them through the death of Jesus Christ on their behalf (Ephesians 1:9, Colossians 1:24-27).  Look again at our text:

 24 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, 25 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, 26 the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. 27 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.

Q:  In verse 27, who is “them”?  

A: “His saints.”

Q:  What is special about “His saints”?

A:  God chose to reveal the mystery of salvation to them.  They know, because God has chosen to reveal it to them, that the Lord Jesus Christ is their hope of glory, their hope of eternal life.  Only THEY know that, and they ONLY know that because God chose to reveal that unknowable mystery to them.  Otherwise, they would never know or understand who Jesus Christ really is: The Savior of ALL whose faith is in Him and His work upon the cross on their behalf, REGARDLESS of nationality, race, sex, social status or any other external distinction.

The people to whom God chooses to reveal the mystery of the Gospel, they alone are the Church.  Everyone who understands the Gospel message, repents of their sins, trusts in Christ alone for salvation, is a member in good standing in God’s Church, forever!  

Paul can rejoice in his sufferings for the sake of the Gospel because he KNOWS there are people out there among the nations for whom Christ died, and through the hearing of the Gospel message, they SHALL be saved because God is going to save them.  That is His purpose: To save, by means of Christ’s sacrifice in their place, His people from their sins.  So with absolute confidence, Paul goes and preaches among the Gentiles the powerful, saving, transforming, convicting, eternal life-giving message of God.  That is worth whatever suffering or affliction he must suffer, even if he has to die because of it.

Q:  Are you a member of God’s Church?  I am not asking if you are a member of Grace Fellowship.  Rather, are you one of those saints to whom Christ has been revealed?  Is Jesus your only hope of glory, of eternal life?

Now notice verse 28: Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.

If we preach as Paul preached, we have to do four things:

1. Proclaim Christ!
2. Warn everyone!
3. Teach everyone!
4. Aim to mature, or grow up everyone!

Today, you have heard the message of Jesus Christ yet again.  So we have imitated Paul in the first point.    You have heard Christ proclaimed.  

Secondly, you are hereby warned of a great danger.  The biblical gospel message always contains a warning.  If you are not a Christian, you cannot afford to hear this message again and continue in your unbelief.  It would be better for you not to hear this message of the grace of God if you intend to continue in rebellion against it.  When you do that, you heap more condemnation upon yourself.  You make yourself even more guilty by refusing once again the merciful willingness of God to forgive you of all your sin and grant you eternal life.  To listen to this message yet again, and leave this place with your heart and mind still unchanged and unmoved, is a grave danger to your soul.  Repent now!  Bend the knee today!  Forsake your sin this moment!  Cry out to God to have mercy upon you and break your hard heart so that you might be saved from the Hell you easily deserve.

Finally, you have all been taught, hopefully with some modicum of wisdom.  I cannot say you have been taught with all wisdom because I don’t possess all wisdom.  But my prayer is that God would grant us all wisdom to understand his word so that we might all be presentable to God on that last day as being mature, fully grown-up believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.    

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“What practical steps can we take to grow in our awareness of the continuous presence of God? Shouldn’t we expect to experience God’s presence primarily by means of that which He gave explicitly for the purpose of making Himself known to us: His Word?  Martyn Lloyd-Jones said of God’s Word, ‘The more we know it and read it, the more it will take us into the presence of God.  So if you want to set the Lord always before you, spend much of your time with regular daily reading of the Bible.’”  - Don Whitney, Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health.