Colossians 1:24

Colossians chapter 1, verses 21 through 24. And you that were sometime alienated in enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. If ye continue in the faith, grounded and settled, may not move away from the hope of the gospel which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven, whereof I Paul am made a minister, who now rejoice in my sufferings for you. Fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my fore. flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church. God bless to us his sacred and holy word this morning. Elizabeth Elliott memorialized the death of her husband in the caring of the gospel to the Oka Indians in South America. In her book through Gates of Splendor, she records how Jim Elliott was martyred and one of his first attempts to reach out to this Indian tribe. During one of his first encounters, he was slain. They didn’t like outsiders. And so they killed him. Upon dedicating himself to be a missionary to these Ecuadorian Indians, Jim wrote this into his diary in 1956. God, I pray thee light these I sticks of my life that I may burn for thee, consume my life, my God, for it is thine. I seek not a long life, but a full one like you, Lord Jesus. Thus Jim Elliott suffered for the glory of Christ and for the benefit of the church. Paul has just spoken of his call by God to be a missionary, to be a minister. of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And he is engaged, we find, from verse 23, in carrying out the Great Commission. As Jesus said, to preach the gospel to every creature, and he has found himself engaged in that endeavor to bring the gospel all over the Roman Empire, the world, the known world at that time. His concern is that you as a believer should persevere in the faith, not cast off your profession of faith in Christ, as he says in the first part of verse 23. To that end, Paul introduces here the fact that believers may suffer for the cause of Christ, for their faith in Christ. Paul uses his own example. here of suffering in the spreading of the gospel so that this is part of persevering, that we should recognize that there can be a persecution of ourselves because of our faith in Christ. This is to encourage you so that you may indeed follow in his footsteps and continue persevering in the faith. So let me begin by this. saying this morning, you should realize that all who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. You should expect to suffer as a follower of Christ. Paul speaks about my sufferings here in verse 24. Boy, never has any teaching in the world. Rained down upon the speech. of the gospel of Christ more hatred and persecution than the message concerning Jesus Christ. Other religions can spring up in this earth and they’re often welcomed. You find even in our own country how people are open to Islam and they’re teaching Islamic customs in the schools and so forth. No problem. Try explaining the gospel. of Jesus Christ in the schools and see what happens. As soon as Christianity appears, there seems to be some type of concerted effort by Satan to stomp out the light of the gospel of Christ. Paul has been on the front lines. In the military, they call it the tip of the spear. You know, if you’re driving into the enemy territory, you’re at the beginning of that wedge, you’re at the tip of the spear. Paul is at the tip of the spirit carrying the gospel into these dark areas of the Roman Empire. And so it’s not surprising that he has drawn enemy fire. It’s not surprising that any true minister of the gospel of Christ who stands for what God’s word says is going to receive fire. Paul at the moment, he says now, he’s in prison in Rome, for what? because he’s a bad person, because he’s doing evil, because he’s spreading the gospel of Christ, and he’s hated for it. He has been maligned. He has been beaten. He has been threatened with death. He’s even been stoned, as the Bible tells us, by his enemies. They want to silence him. When he goes to Jerusalem and he brings a love gift to the people there at Jerusalem, the church there, what happens? He’s arrested. Here he is. Bringing alms to Israel like believers and he is arrested. Paul doesn’t want you to see his sufferings and say I don’t want to have anything to do with the faith if that’s what it means to suffer. God has no children that he does not consecrate himself by some type of affliction. Now it may not be outward persecution. It may be sickness. It may be disease. It may be hardship in life. But he uses some type of affliction. But the promise is this, that if we suffer with Jesus Christ, we shall reign with him. According to 2. Timothy 2.12. If you have a part now in the cross, you shall have a part in the glory that Christ is enjoying. think of what Christ has endured for you. And then imagine that if he asked us to do some suffering on his behalf, that we wouldn’t think it too much to suffer for the cause of Christ. And so Christ says that take up your cross. Count the cost. Be willing to endure suffering as Christ’s followers. If the world hates the master, it’s going to hate the disciples, you and I as well. So you should expect to suffer as a follower of Christ. He talks about my sufferings. Now, you need to have a right attitude towards suffering. Who now rejoiced in my sufferings. Paul shows how he conducts himself in all the afflictions that he’s undergoing so that he might be an example to us. Now, it’s not this, he just shows fortitude in suffering. It’s not merely that he, you know, takes it in good stride. But he rejoices. There’s joy and cheerfulness in this. It’s not merely that we’re to bear the cross, but we’re going to do with the right attitude. That’s the hard part. In other words, we shouldn’t do it with a reluctant spirit or regret. If you’re following your captain and you’re grumbling and complaining the whole time, you’re not much of a soldier, are you? you know, men of valor, when they go forth in the battle, they go forth with eagerness with resolve. When the apostles had been shamefully scourged, in order that they may stop preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, what do we read about them in the book of Acts chapter 5, verse 41, and they departed from the presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. When it comes to suffering, much depends on how you look at it. The mindset that we have when we undergo suffering. I was reading something on the life of John Philpott, who was in prison in Bishop Bonner’s coal cellar and Fulham Palace, which is a borough in a borough of London on the banks of the Thames River. He and his Christian companions were locked up there for preaching, and they were singing psalms while they were locked up. And the bishop chided them for singing those Psalms and being so joyful. He was upset that they were joyful in his coal cellar. Of course, they could have quoted apostolic precedence for that with Paul and Silas. He says he was there with seven Christian prisoners, and here’s what he wrote. He says, I was carried to my Lord’s coal cellar again, where I, with my six fellow prisoners, do rouse together in the straws cheerfully, we thank God, as others do in their beds of down. To be with the people of God, one would not mind being in a coal hole, as he put it. Now, no one wanted to be in Bishop’s Bonner’s coal cellar, locked up there. But better to be there with those who would be martyred, then they’d be upstairs with the bishop. To hear the saints’ holy talk, to sing the Psalms with them, and to behold Christ together, is very different from just suffering in imprisonment. In other words, it was a time where they gloried in the fact that the Lord was with them, that they could rejoice in the things of Christ. If your suffering draws you closer to Christ, then it’s a benefit and therefore a reason for joy, isn’t it? So you need to have the right attitude towards suffering. He rejoices in his sufferings. Now notice your concern for the souls of others should keep you serving Christ despite your sufferings. He says, my sufferings here, and then he adds for you. The hatred, the persecution of the Jews, who long afflicted Paul was primarily caused because Paul was what? The apostle to the Gentiles. He taught the Gentiles justification by faith without the deeds of the law being necessary, like circumcision. This infuriated the Jews, who believed that one could not be justified without keeping the whole law of Moses. However, despite the unrelenting persecution of the Jews and the effect of this suffering upon Paul, can you imagine being stoned, imagine being imprisoned and scourged and so forth, the apostle endured it and he kept working. Guess what? As soon as he gets out of prison, what do you think he’s going to do? He’s going to go back to visiting the churches and preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, isn’t he? And we know he did this until he finally was eventually martyred for the cause of Christ. Now the Colossians were numbered among the Gentiles. And so there is reason to say that he suffered for them. I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, as he says in Ephesians 3-1. Well, Paul may not be the direct messenger to the Colossians, Apaphrus was, it was through Paul’s ministry, evidently, that Papyrus was brought to the knowledge of the truth. And Apaphrus is preaching the message that Paul preaches. And so we see this situation. Paul says, I endure all this for the sake of those who are coming to faith in Christ and to honor Christ. As he put it in 2. Timothy 2.10, I endure all things for the elect’s sake, that they may also obtain. the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. There is a cost to following Christ, but this is mitigated by the testimony that you have in giving out the word of God and you see people converted. If we see people saved, if you see people following Christ, it’s an encouragement to keep doing it. The world in general made hate Christians. But there is an attraction to someone who is willing to stand for what they believe in, even if it means being put to death. The world takes note of those people. Souls may be reached because of you. People may be saved because of your witness for Christ, even though the world may not like what you have to say. This lightens the load of your afflictions as well. So you should realize all who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. we could expect suffering, have the right attitude, realize there’s people being affected because we’re giving out the gospel of Christ. Now why your sufferings are important. One, let me suggest this. These sufferings relate to what you endure for the sake of Christ. He calls these sufferings the afflictions of Christ that are left behind. We have to great care. we come to this passage of scripture. This has been twisted by the Roman Catholic Church to teach all kinds of things we’ll look at in a moment. Paul here is not speaking of the afflictions or sufferings of Christ that Christ was enduring in his own person here. That was completed at the cross. We know that is the truth. God not only decreed by His eternal counsel what sufferings Christ personally would have to endure as the head of the body. But God also determined the sufferings that the church, Christ’s body, would have to endure as well. The sufferings of Christ here are taken in this twofold sense. What Christ endured during his earthly life, including the cross, these are past, these are completed. Our salvation is secured in him. And then what Christ’s people endure for his namesake, for his sake, we suffer as members of his mystical body of the church. These are present. These are ongoing to the end of the world. We have to separate those two ideas. Philippians 129 says to you it’s given not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake. In other words, this puts some honor. dignity to the suffering because we are suffering for Christ’s sake, for his namesake. We’re drinking in a way the same cup. You remember Jesus told the disciples that James and John, can you drink the same cup? I’m going to drink. You will de-drink it. No, they weren’t suffering for sin, but they had to suffer for his namesake. And that’s what we have to do. And when God honors you, and that’s really what it is, By allowing you to suffer for his namesake, that is a great privilege. God doesn’t give worthless gifts to his saints. Suffering for Christ is a high privilege. It contains a preciousness to it, which the carnal eye of the world can’t comprehend. Faith is a great gift, but perseverance in suffering for Christ is a great gift too. John careless, an English martyr who died in prison, once said this of his afflictions, such an honor tis as angels are not permitted to have. Therefore, God, forgive me, mine unthankfulness. That’s what a martyr had to say. So these sufferings relate to what you endure for the sake of Christ. In that sense, they are the afflictions of Christ. These sufferings have been careful. carefully measured out by God for you to endure. You notice he says, the fill-up, that which is left behind of the afflictions of Christ. If we can think of a container that as you fill it, you know, the water of the liquid level keeps getting higher and higher until at some point it’s completely full. And that is what we see here with regard to the afflictions. God is, he’s given each of us a cop, so to speak. may be a different size cup. You may not have the biggest, a big cup like the apostle Paul has, but you have your own cup. And there’s a sense in which as you go through this life and you suffer for the cause of Christ, that cup gets filled up. This is the idea, I think, that he’s explaining to us here. And he gives his personal example here to help us. Paul’s already endured great persecution for the cause of Christ, but he’s going to get martyred. he’s going to have one major issue still awaiting him. And so he sees the cup being filled up and he sees that there’s something still left behind. He’s still going to have to suffer and he will die for the cause of Christ. You know, it’s interesting when he was called to the ministry, remember he was saved and he was called to the ministry, God says, I’m going to show you what great things you will suffer for my namesake. Caesar is going to take his head. What is key here is that Paul sees as afflictions as being measured out by God. In other words, there is an allotted amount that God says you will endure. Each of us has an allotted amount. Now, what this tells us is that it’s not in Satan’s hands how much affliction you endure. It’s not in the world’s hands how much infliction you endure. It’s in God’s hands, how much infliction you endure. And he will not test it. above that which we are able to bear. So God says, this is what I want you to suffer for Christ’s sake, that I may be honored. Here’s your cup. Everything is carefully measured out by your loving Heavenly Father. And that is an aid to enduring the suffering as well. A third point here. These sufferings are part of your conformity to Christ. He says here, fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church. Whom God did for know, whom he did for love, as the scripture indicates, he did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son that he might be the first born among many brothers. One of the issues here in the suffering is we’re being conformed to Christ as the body here. One of the principal aspects of this conformity is your suffering on earth. earth. You’re partaking of the cross of Christ. As scripture indicates, if any man will follow Christ, you must take up his cross and through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of heaven. All your suffering is fore-ordained with the purpose of ultimately you being conformed to the image of Christ. The parable of the wax is interesting. You’ll bear with me as I relate this parable. I don’t understand this, said the wax. As from the flame it dropped melted upon the paper beneath. Do not grieve, said the taper. I’m sure it’s all right. I was never in such agony, exclaimed the wax still dropping. It’s not without a good design, and will and well, replied the taper. The wax was unable to reply at the moment, owing to a strong pressure. And when it again looked up, it bore a beautiful impression. The result of the seal, which had been applied to it. Ah, I comprehend now, said the wax, no longer in suffering. I was softened in order to receive this lovely, durable impression. I see now it was all right, because it was given to me the beautiful likeness which I could not otherwise have obtained. Afflictions. by the hand of the Holy Spirit, soften our hearts so that we may be conformed to the image of Christ. As Job said, God makes my heart soft in Job 2315. As wax in its naturally hard state cannot take the impression of the seal and has to be melded for us, so God, in a sense, has to meld us with affliction or persecution that we might bear. the image of Christ. In this sense, we bear the afflictions of Christ. Fourthly, these sufferings you endure for Christ’s sake are considered by Christ as his own. Notice it’s called the afflictions of Christ. There’s a sympathy which Christ feels with the members of his body, his church. You are prone to think of your sufferings as complete your own, but the scripture reveals to us, while we often feel alone in our sufferings, there’s a sense in which Christ suffers with us. Christ counts these sufferings of his brethren as his own. Remember the story of Paul on the Damascus Road where Jesus said to him, Saul, Saul, why persecuteest thou me when he was persecuting the church? Because of the union we have with Christ, whereas the body is one and have many members, so also is Christ, what you suffer, he suffers at a sense, jointly with you. He is with you in this. Now these sufferings you endure are for the good and the benefit of Christ’s church, for his body’s sake, which is the church. The personal sufferings of Christ were for the redemption of the church to satisfy God’s justice for the sins of his elect people. This Jesus did completely. When he said it is finished, that took care of all that eternal redemption that we needed. So the sufferings of the saints are not for the church’s redemption or for the forgiveness of sins. Christ has done that alone. Rather, the sufferings of the saints are for the good of the church here. To edify the church by their example, to comfort the church under sufferings, to confirm the truth which the church suffer for us, that they’re willing to suffer for. It is in this sense that Paul affirms afflictions were for the Christ’s body’s sake, which is the church. A good effect comes out of these afflictions, such as causing the preachers of the gospel to be more bold and standing up for the cause of Christ, even though they see that Paul is arrested. They are emboldened by this, and preach without the fear of me. There was a an elderly Christian man in once communist controlled Budapest was asked about the effects of persecution and discrimination in the lives of the Christians there. He said, well, it’s like the deep, fast-flowing Danubee River. The banks of the river were artificially narrowed throughout the city of the Budapest. And he said, because they were narrowed, they went deeper. And they cut deeper into the the bottom of the river. So believers under restrictions and persecutions may have limited freedom. They may have few political options, but their narrowed lives run deeper when it comes to Christ and the things of God. Now briefly, let me mention this. The Roman Catholic Church appeals to this verse to prove their perverted doctrines as saints as co-redeemers, indulgences, and even purgatory. Supposedly, Christ’s redemption isn’t perfect. It’s not complete. Thus, one must atone for sin and finish Christ’s work, and that’s what you have to do in purgatory. Supposedly, the Virgin Mary and John the Baptist and many other of the martyrs suffered heavy more heavier punishments than what their sins deserved and therefore they had more good works than were necessary to ensure their own salvation and these what we might call superabundant sufferings being mixed up with those of Christ are now available for others in other words Mary then can be a co-redeemer alongside of Christ. Such a doctrine allows the Roman Catholic Church to sell indulgences, to guarantee eternal life for the price of money. Now, Scripture clearly teaches that Christ’s death alone says, nowhere in the Word of God, you find anyone suffering more than their sins deserved. I mean, that’s an affront to God’s justice, isn’t it? God’s unfair. What does the Scripture say? Doesn’t the Scripture is just the opposite? As a renais 13, thou our God has punished us less than our sins deserve. Roman Catholics are confusing the temporal sufferings of the saints that they have to endure with the eternal sufferings that Christ endured that provide for us eternal life. Since we’re not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold, one should not think they can buy an indulgence that paying money will somehow redeem your soul. since Scripture declares neither is there salvation in any other but Jesus Christ there are no co-redeemers. That’s a blasphemous thought. Blastphemous thought. So let these things be clearly understood so that you may see how impossible it is to think of evangelicals and Christians getting together. We’re on opposite sides here when it comes to this issue of salvation. and Christ being the soul redeeming. Well, Jim Elliot, the husband of Elizabeth Elliot, was martyred by the Ok Indians in Ecuador. He suffered for the honor of Christ and the good of the church. Believers must be willing to suffer. For God is for ordained it. It’s part of our being conformed to the image of Christ. I trust this verse will enable all of us to look at suffering in a better light than we often do. And that we may do it with more joy and more of an attitude that God is conforming us in a good sense here to the image of Christ and therefore, like the wax, while we may be under the heat, there’s something good will come out of this that we’re facing. Let us close with the word of prayer. I don’t know.