Colossians 1:24-29

24Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of His body, which is the church. 25I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness-- 26the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. 27To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28We proclaim Him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. 29To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.

It has been awhile since we've looked at Colossians, but in this passage Paul elaborates on his comment from v23 (that you are to continue in your faith). He wants the fact that he is a servant for the gospel to be a motivator for the Colossians to hold fast to their hope and endure firm in their faith. So he decides to further explain his labor, the motivation for it, and the power behind it. And the truths he declares here are not only true for Paul; they are true for all of God’s people as they, as we, live for Him.

First, as a result of our union with Christ, we share in His sufferings. Paul rejoices in his sufferings, which are clearly on behalf of the Church. Paul says in v24, “I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions.” What does that mean? It does not mean that Christ’s sufferings on our behalf were insufficient. Paul has spent the last 20 verses showing Christ’s sufficiency; he’s not changing that stance now. He’s saying that the sufferings that the Head of the Church, Jesus Christ, has suffered are still impacting the Body, which is the Church. Though this may be hard for us to understand, Paul had experiential understanding of this concept. In Acts 9:1-4, we read of Saul’s conversion. Jesus asked him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” Of course, Saul was not throwing Jesus in prison, so why would Jesus say that he was persecuting Him? Jesus was in heaven seated at the right hand of the throne of God. But His body was still on earth, and it is still on earth. And Saul was attacking, punishing, hurting, the Body of Christ. And so, as long as Christ’s body – the church – is still on earth, there will be suffering (see 1 Corinthians 12:12; 2 Corinthians 1:5, 4:7-12; Philippians 3:10; 2 Timothy 2:10-12). Later in Acts 9, Jesus tells Ananias that Saul will be shown how much he must suffer for the sake of Jesus’ name. Calvin says, “As, therefore, Christ has suffered once in His own Person, so He suffers daily in His members, and in this way there are filled up those sufferings which the Father hath appointed for His Body by His decree.”

Ligon Duncan says, “Paul is telling the Colossians, ‘Look, I have been appointed to suffer for you. I have been appointed to be your apostle. Why would I possibly not tell you some part of the truth that you need to know in order to grow in Christ? Surely if I’m going to suffer on your behalf, I’m going to tell you the whole of the truth.’ Paul was writing from prison, saying to them, ‘I am suffering on your behalf. I am not atoning for you. Christ has already done that. You’re already reconciled. But I am participating in the suffering of the body of Christ.’ And Paul doesn’t just mean that for himself. He intends us to understand that we participate in the suffering of Christ. Philippians 1:29-30 says, ‘For to you it has been granted, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, experiencing the same conflict that you saw in me and now hear in me.’ The Apostle Paul is reiterating that because we are united to Christ, because we are His body and He is our head, we join with Him in the fellowship of His sufferings. We participate in the sufferings of Christ. We do not atone by those sufferings, but we [edify the Body by sharing in the fellowship of His suffering].”

Second, the gospel is a revealed truth, an open mystery, made known by God. Paul speaks of the mystery that has been hidden from the past ages and generations and made known among the Gentiles. Paul is contrasting two ideas of mystery. The false teachers were claiming that they had a mystery, a secret knowledge, a secret code that could be purchased and unlocked with a secret code to have a deeper knowledge of God. Paul had a mystery too, but it cannot be purchased and doesn’t require a secret code to unlock. It’s not something that only a few people can know; rather, it has been revealed to all kinds of people, even the Gentiles, from whom it had been hidden (Ephesians 2:12). For Paul, a mystery is truth once concealed but now revealed, something we couldn’t have known unless God revealed it.

Notice, however, that the gospel has been revealed only to the saints (v26-27) – both Jews and Gentiles worldwide. This teaching has particular implications for my recent conversations with a group of anti-theists. Paul says this to magnify God’s grace. It was His good pleasure (Luke 10:21). Unbelievers still don’t get the gospel. It’s foolishness to those who are perishing (1 Corinthians 1:18,23-24), a mystery by their definition. But to those who are being saved, this mystery by Paul’s definition has been revealed as the power to save us (Romans 16:25; Ephesians 3:9).

Paul has been given the task, as a form of stewardship, to preach that mystery. Paul says in v28 that the goal of his preaching the mystery of the gospel is that believers would be perfect, or complete, in Christ. He doesn’t mention evangelism or conversion, but his focus is sanctification through discipling by means of intellectual communication – the spoken or written word, just as Jesus “made known” the Father (John 17:3). Our purpose ought to be the same. Paul is saying to the Colossians, ‘My job is to preach the gospel to make you complete in Christ, so would I hold something back that you need to know in order to be complete in Him?’ That makes no sense. Paul, who prior to his conversion would have despised these people as unclean Gentiles and unfaithful Jews, is loving them by assuring them that his gospel is the full truth. And this is his struggle (v29), to faithfully communicate the gospel to all.

Third, our hope is in our union with Christ. Paul has explained the mystery of the gospel, which has been made known, as “Christ in us, the hope of glory” (v27). Union with Christ is the only hope of glory. There is no other place where we can go to find our fruition, our satisfaction. People make two mistakes. They either seek the wrong hope or they seek the right hope in the wrong way. The only right hope is the hope of glory, which is in Christ. The only way to that hope is through Christ. The Holy Spirit uniting you to Christ is your hope.

Finally, in v29, Paul reveals the source of his energy to labor in this gospel ministry – Christ Himself. Paul struggles and labors to admonish and teach the truth in wisdom, so that they may be made perfect in Christ. It’s the same goal of God. He justifies in order to sanctify. Paul knows that he has been ordained as God’s instrument, as God’s means to that end, and so he takes hold of that calling, fully knowing that “it is God who works in [him] to will and to act according to His good purpose” (Philippians 2:13). What a great example of how we are to embrace our roles and responsibilities in this life in light of God’s sovereignty. Paul said, “By the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them – yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10). Let us realize that truth and embrace it as Paul did.