The Country Church Bourbon Indiana

Introduction:
*Comments about Missionary Presentation*

Text: Colossians 1:24-29
Theme: Making Jesus Known is Worth Suffering For

Verse 24-25
Paul’s sufferings for the sake of the Colossians are the sufferings of service and making the word of God fully known. They are not redemptive, saving sufferings.

These verses do not say, as some have said, that Christ’s suffering on the cross was inadequate to save people. And so Paul needed to suffer some more to ensure his own salvation and the salvation of the Colossians. Paul is not teaching that he is in some small way his own savior or the savior of the Colossians. That would contradict all the high praise that Paul just gave to Jesus and contradict everything he ever wrote.

His sufferings are the sufferings of Christian ministry. Just before and just after verse 24 Paul identifies himself as a minister. And his ministry is one of proclaiming the gospel. *Point out verse 23 and 25*
That ministry involved a lot of suffering. When Paul was first called into Gospel ministry, this is what God had to say about it “I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” Acts 9:16.

In what sense though was Christ’s afflictions lacking? It wasn’t in His saving work. On the cross Jesus suffered for every sin anyone’s ever done or will do. The work has been completed and all can be saved by faith alone through Christ alone.

But Jesus continues to be afflicted when Christian’s are afflicted. Paul used to persecute Christians. He would have them beaten and killed. Eventually, Jesus confronted Paul about that on the road to Damascus and asked Him “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” “Why are you persecuting me?” Paul didn’t have Jesus beaten. He wasn’t going into Jesus’ home and arresting Him. And yet, by persecuting Christians, he was also persecuting Jesus.

When you or anyone else suffers for the sake of Jesus, Jesus suffers too. We are His body and when a part of the body suffers, the whole body suffers, and that includes Christ, the head of the body. Certainly, as the head of the body, He is more acquainted with your suffering than anyone else you know, He feels it more deeply, and He cares more deeply.

Application: Jesus cares when you suffer.
Link: Paul suffered a lot in his Gospel preaching ministry.

For one, it was hard work. He traveled a lot and it wasn’t in a comfortable car. Mostly it was by foot and sometimes on boat. The boats he traveled on weren’t the nice and comfortable kind. They were more like an ancient Titanic because he got shipwrecked three times. I would hesitate before sharing a boat with Paul!

It was surely very emotional work. You can see tears shed as he continually had to leave friends he had grown close to in order to preach the gospel in new lands. He would suffer loneliness, rejection, abuse. It must have been emotionally exhausting.

Once when he went to Jerusalem he ended up thrown in prison for a long time. Prison has never been a comfortable place, but it was certainly much less so in Roman times! The Romans did nothing to ensure the well-being and survival of their prisoners. In their opinion, if you were worth anything, friends and family would bring you the food and water and clothes that you needed. All the Romans provided was a hard floor in a dark cell.

Paul recounts that he was beaten three times. He even was stoned once so badly that they thought he was dead and dragged his bleeding and unconscious body outside of the city to leave his corpse there. Only he wasn’t dead. He rose up and went back into the city.
Ultimately, he was beheaded for preaching the Gospel. Paul knew more suffering than probably most of us will ever know. What Paul had to face was very hard, by comparison, what we have to face if we choose to share Jesus with others can hardly be called suffering at all.
But what made that all really remarkable is that Paul saw it all as a privilege. A privilege to suffer. He rejoiced in his sufferings. It was his calling to suffer. He was told he would suffer. It was because of the stewardship given to him from God to make the word of God fully known. And he rejoiced in it. You and I should rejoice in our suffering too, because it is for the most worthy of causes.

Link: Paul, as a steward of the Gospel, did not keep the word of God to himself. His charge was to share the Gospel with other people. And He did. And he suffered for it. And he counted it a joy.

Application: You are a steward of the Gospel too by the way. Certain particulars might have been unique to Paul. But, you have the same message. You have the word of God. You have the charge from God to share that message with other people. It was not for Paul to keep hidden away all to himself and it is not for you to keep hidden away all to yourself either. That’s not the kind of stewardship that God calls us to.

Everything that God has given to you; you are just a steward of. It is not really yours. It is God’s. And another even more interesting thing about this stewardship – 9 times out of 10, when God has made you a steward over something, His intention is that you share it with other people. You are a steward over your house, but God calls us to be hospitable to others. You are a steward over your finances, but God calls us to be gracious to the poor, widows, and orphans. You are also a steward of the Gospel message.

Link: At one time, certain aspects of this message were a mystery to people, but now they have been revealed and the charge is to make the word of God fully known.

Verse 26-27
Specifically, one of the biggest things that was a mystery to people prior to Jesus walking the earth and the writings of the New Testament, was that the Messiah would not be for the Jews only but would also be for the Gentiles. “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.” – So the mystery was that the Christ, or Messiah, would be in Gentiles and be their hope of glory.

It’s evident as you read through Acts that this was a mystery to people. To us, as a collection of saved people living in 2019, probably most of which are Gentiles, it is easy to see. We know Jesus is our Savior and Messiah. Of course Jesus is for everyone. But when you read through Acts, there was a lot of controversy about just how Gentiles fit into the church. A lot of people thought that they would need to be circumcised to fit in, start following the dietary laws and all the festivals, etc. Essentially, become Jewish in practice at least since by blood wasn’t possible.

Some of this might have been racism, but a lot of it was simply confusion because this truth was a mystery in the Old Testament. They didn’t have a lot to go off of.

In fact, turn real quick to Acts 11. *Read Acts 11:1-18.* Notice – it was not till Acts 11 that the truth that Gentiles also would be granted repentance that leads to life was realized by the church leaders. Up until then, the assumption, largely, was that they would not. Hard to imagine! But it’s true. When Peter said what he said, a silence fell. They were evidently shocked. They weren’t displeased though – no, they gave glory to God that through the Lord Jesus Christ Gentiles also would be granted repentance that leads to life.

Eternal life, of course, is a big part of the hope of glory. But the hope of glory is bigger; it’s the whole package we get in heaven. Our glorified bodies, getting eternal rewards, getting to be with Jesus forever, being freed from sin forever, and having eternal life – that’s the hope of glory. And all of that comes to us, Jew or Gentile, because of Christ whom we have trusted as our Savior.

Application: No wonder, then, that even suffering was something for Paul to rejoice about. Suffering is a way to identify with our great Savior Jesus. And his suffering was for a glorious cause. His suffering was not in vain, it was to help get the word out about Jesus the Savior of the world. What a privilege to get to be a steward of that message. Suffering for the sake of making Jesus known to people is worth rejoicing about, because Jesus is their hope of glory. All the security and delights of eternity are found in Jesus.

Exhortation: Work hard, suffer even if need be, to make Jesus known to people. You are a steward of that message, and you are charged to share it. He is their hope of glory. Count it joy, even, if you should suffer – whether that be because of persecution or simply because it is hard work – because it is the most worthy of causes.