Have you ever saved someone's physical life? I would imagine that doing so would be an incredible cause for rejoicing. Medical professionals get to save people's physical lives frequently. Other times, they lose the battle; the person dies. A medical professional's life is filled with both tremendous celebration and horrific sorrow. I have often wondered how they deal with that emotional roller coaster, day after day.
I heard a follow-up news story last night, about a little girl (6 years old) and her sister (14 years old) who were swimming in a park, near the AL-GA state line, around a year ago. The swift current began to sweep the younger sister away. The older sister struggled to rescue her, and in so doing, lost her own life. She gave the ultimate sacrifice, to save her sister.
Today's text is Colossians 1:24-29 (NET).
24Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my physical body – for the sake of his body, the church – what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ. 25I became a servant of the church according to the stewardship from God – given to me for you – in order to complete the word of God, 26that is, the mystery that has been kept hidden from ages and generations, but has now been revealed to his saints. 27God wanted to make known to them the glorious riches of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28We proclaim him by instructing and teaching all people with all wisdom so that we may present every person mature in Christ. 29Toward this goal I also labor, struggling according to his power that powerfully works in me.
Christian: If someone asked you to describe your calling from the Lord, what would you say? I imagine that your response would be colored by what you were going through at the time you were asked. Still....
Here, we see Paul give one of the clearest descriptions of his life's purpose, since his conversion on that Damascus road. And, it is startling in its intensity. Let's begin at the end of the passage, and of this chapter, with verse 29.
Paul states that the engine for achieving God's purposes in his life is the power of Christ, that is, the Holy Spirit. Paul does not attempt to do anything in his own puny power, because he knows that it would be a dismal failure. This is echoed in his famous "I can do all things through Christ..." verse (Philippians 4:13). Notice that his mission is not easy. It is a titanic struggle. Jesus described this as "taking up your cross daily", in Luke 9:23. Sounds pretty depressing, doesn't it? Why, then, does Paul, in verse 24 start this passage by exclaiming that he "rejoices" in his sufferings?
Remember: at the time of this writing, Paul was on house arrest in Rome, living out the last few years of his life. It is not an exaggeration to say that he was suffering, and that he had suffered much. Why, then, his rejoicing?
God tasked Paul with carrying the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Gentile world. This assignment was a "mystery" to the Jews. Benson , in his commentary, described the word like this: "not a matter hard to be understood, but a matter long concealed, and, when revealed, difficult to be believed, through the prejudices of men." I've heard the word "mystery" would be better translated as "secret". God had given Paul a startling secret to reveal: namely, that the gospel applied not just to the Jews, but to the whole world.
The crux of Paul's mission is in verse 28. The ultimate goal is to save lives....not physical lives, but spiritual lives...What Paul is describing is not some kind of "fee" required to earn a place in Heaven. He is describing his "love offering" to his Savior, a love offering of souls whom he was used by Christ to bring to salvation and then to disciple to mature discipleship.
THIS should be the end result of all of our separate, diverse callings, Christian. It is the most important work in the world, even more important than saving a physical life! Jude (1:23) describes this calling, our ultimate goal, as "snatching them out of the fire" (of Hell, we might logically conclude).
One last point: that suffering aspect Paul mentions. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could fulfill Christ's great commission (Matthew 28:18-20) without the heartbreak of suffering, even to the point of death? Often, we get lulled into a blissful stupor, just rolling along doing what Christ called us to do, unaware that Satan has us in the crosshairs of his rifle scope, that a spiritual target is on our backs, so to speak. That becomes our "normal". Then, the suffering hits. And, we are surprised, amazed, flabbergasted! "How can this be?", we ask! We were doing as Jesus called us to do! Why did this happen?
Paul states that obedient Christians can expect to share in the sufferings of Jesus Christ. If we are faithful to our callings, as described in verse 29, we will become wounded in the cosmic, spiritual battle in which we are engaged. We will receive wounds which will become battle scars.
The phrase "afflictions of Christ", used in verse 29, appears nowhere else in scripture. It goes beyond the everyday burdens of life we encounter. It is a "whole 'nuther level", even to the intensity of Christ's actual physical and spiritual sufferings.
Paul referred to this in 2 Corinthians 1:5, when he said "the sufferings of Christ overflow to us" or what Paul echoed in 1 Peter 4:12 - - -
Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal which is taking place to test you [that is, to test the quality of your faith], as though something strange or unusual were happening to you.
Or, what Jesus meant when he spoke to the "sons of thunder" 's mother about "drinking from His cup", in Matthew 20:23.
Yet, do we not howl with a great howling lament when this comes? Do we not tend to run from it, as if it signifies some sort of spiritual deficit? Do we not avoid it by pretending it is not there? These are worldly, spiritually-immature attitudes. Yes, the world looks at us in our suffering and thinks, as the Jews thought in John 9:2, that we must have done something wrong to "deserve" such suffering, that we have perhaps "fallen out of God's favor".
Paul makes it clear that all of Christ's disciples have inherited such suffering, will experience such suffering, by virtue of our choosing to follow Him, to "save lives for all eternity". The question for each of us is simply this: will we embrace the titanic struggle as Paul did? Will we rejoice in it?
Is the hot battle worth it all? Oh, yes, it most surely is!
Father, may we not be surprised when the "fiery trial" comes upon us, as we fulfill Your calling on our lives by "saving lives". Give us the strength, which can only come from your Holy Spirit, to embrace and rejoice in every aspect of being Jesus' disciple. In His holy name we pray, amen.
Source:
http://biblehub.com/commentaries/colossians/1-24.htm
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