Col No.9 Suffering

For our passage this morning, Luke chapter 12, and we're going to read together from the 27th verse, and we'll go right down to the 40th verse, inclusive. So if you'd like to come in on those even-numbered verses, Jesus repeating some of the things that he's already been preaching, which gives biblical warrant for coming back to underline what already we know from the Word of God. Luke 12, verse 27, But rather seek ye the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you.

Sell that ye have, and give alms. Provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning.

Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching. Verily, I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meet, and will come forth and serve them. And this know that if the good man of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through.

God will bless to us the reading of his word, to which we will allude later on in the service. Now would you turn with me to the epistle of Paul to the Colossians. And if you don't have a New Testament, then look along at the person's copy at the side of you.

I'm sure they'll share or otherwise look at the verse that has been typed out on the notes and news sheet. We are working our way through this remarkably relevant letter which Paul wrote to a church years ago and finding tremendous doctrinal and practical truths. And this morning I want to just change the emphasis of the title as published and move it to something that I think is even more of a precis of what is contained within these two verses.

I want to speak to you on suffering and serving. Suffering and serving. Let me read the verses again.

Verse 24 and 25. Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh, for his body's sake which is the church, whereof I am made a minister according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you to fulfill the word of God. Now if you have been regular in your attendance here on a Sunday morning, you will know that the Apostle Paul is working out the consequences of the reconciliation which the Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished on the cross.

In the 20th verse, the subject of the uniting work of Jesus is referred to. There was a chasm, a bridge between man and God. But that gulf has been narrowed.

It has been spanned through the Roman gibbet. Jesus offering his own body, verse 20, on the cross, has made reconciliation possible. And those who confess what he has done, and acknowledge that they are sinners and that he has come to take away their sin, they benefit in the cross work of Jesus.

So in the 21st and 22nd verses, Paul spells out the practical benefits of Calvary. Jesus, he says in verse 22, in the body of his flesh, a real man offering a real sacrifice has, through his death, made it possible for you people, you Christians, who were unholy to become set apart for God, who were blameable to become spotless, who were capable of being condemned to be unreprovable in the sight of the Lord. And, says the apostle, and this was the basis of our consideration last week, if it be the case that you are genuinely converted, then there is a test that can be applied.

For Christianity is not just of the mind, it includes the mind, but it goes to the will, it goes to the lifestyle. Therefore, verse 23 is the acid test. How do I know that I am reconciled to the Father through Jesus? Well, if ye continue in the faith, grounded and settled, if you are not easily dislodged from the hope of the gospel, which you heard at the beginning from Epaphroditus, which has found universal response throughout the world, and which caused me, who used to be a persecutor of the church, to become a missionary and evangelist.

Well, it's that personal reference that the apostle is compelled to make on the latter part of verse 23 that now is used by the Spirit to cause him to write in equally personal terms in the 24th and 25th verses of the nature of his discipleship. And I repeat that these two verses could well be summarised in the twin words suffering and serving. Now, let me give you another translation, at least just a variation on the A.V. of these two verses, which I think will help to make them more clear.

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill up that which is lacking in the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church. Of that church I am made a servant. The word servant there is perhaps better than minister.

According to the stewardship of God which is given to me for you to preach the word of God fully. Well, let's take the idea of suffering for a moment. Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you.

It's one thing to talk about suffering, isn't it? From the comfortable position of being here in worthing and not really being tested too much. It's easy in the cosy atmosphere of one's study to write an article encouraging the saints to be more than triumphant and overcome all their circumstances. But to use a colloquial expression, it's a different kettle of fish to write to people to be rejoicing, to say that people are to be happy when you are feeling the manacle on your wrist and knowing what it is for freedom to be taken from you as you languish in some Roman jail.

Now, this was the experience of Paul. These are his circumstances as he pens this letter. Do you not know it's called a prison epistle? Because the man who wrote it was in jail.

And yet from these unhappy circumstances, he can say, now I am rejoicing in my sufferings for you. Says the great Scottish preacher, McLaren, concerning the apostle Paul, this bird sings in a darkened cage. I wonder, my friend, do you sing in a darkened cage? Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice.

But are you like that when things go wrong at home, in your office, in your school? Well, the apostle here is saying that he has such a wonderful appreciation of the gospel of Jesus that it doesn't matter what happens to his external circumstances, he will still be rejoicing even in the fact that he has to suffer for the Saviour. Do you know when Paul was earmarked to be a minister, the person who first received the information just couldn't believe his ears. Acts chapter 9 and verse 15 tells the tale.

There's a man in Damascus, a Christian, his name is Ananias, and Ananias is told that Saul, the persecutor of the church, will one day become an ambassador of the gospel. But the Lord said unto him, verse 15, Acts 9, Go thy way, for Paul is a chosen vessel unto me to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel, for I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake. When Paul is writing to the Christians at Philippi, he also makes reference not only to personal suffering, but to that corporate suffering which the body of Christ, as I shall show you in a moment or so, are also called to.

For unto you, he says at the end of the first chapter of that letter, for unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake. Where did you get this idea that the Christian life is all one of tiptoeing through the tulips? That is not the teaching of the New Testament. Rather, the Bible tells us that the joy that the Christian is given is something that is deep-rooted, and when external circumstances are not what he or she would choose, nonetheless, that joy still remains.

So Silas and Paul can sing in prison, and so can others down the years of Christian history cope with their situation, cope with their circumstances. This is what I meant when I said that last Sunday that the Christian faith is a pragmatic faith. That means simply it's demonstrable, it can be seen, it makes a difference.

And whether you're languishing on a bed of sickness or whether you're preaching to a hundred or a thousand people, you should still have that same joy that the Lord Jesus brought into this world to bring, that the Lord Jesus brought into this world for us to benefit from. But let's move on in our text, because that is saying what is well known. But here we get a very difficult statement in the Word of God.

I now am rejoicing in my sufferings for you, says Paul, and I am filling up that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church. Now that's quite a difficult statement, isn't it? Something lacking in the afflictions of Christ? Well then, do we need to take hymns of faith and tear out one or two pages? Full atonement, can it be? It is finished, was his cry. Are we to conclude, as some parts of the so-called established church have done as a result of this statement of Paul's, that there is something defective in the work of Jesus on the cross? Is the Apostle Paul to take the rags of his own righteousness and pin them to the cross and say, well, yes, that sacrifice of Jesus was all right, but it wasn't complete.

There are things that I have been doing, this great suffering that I am undergoing here in Rome, I must take that too, and I must nail it to the Roman gibbet, because I can be saved only by a combination of Jesus' death and my own work. Now, I say, nothing is more important than to be clear what the Apostle Paul is here teaching. You see, there are those who have spun a great deal of nonsense around this particular verse.

They talk about working for salvation. They talk about purgatory and having to be purged from our sins again, and adding to the work of the cross before ultimately we can reach the divine state and be with the Lord. Well, I argue that this is a nonsense.

The Apostle Paul is not referring to adding to the work of Jesus on the cross. He cannot be. I say, even from this epistle, you can't deduce this.

Turn over to the 14th and 15th verses of the 2nd chapter. What is Paul doing here? Well, he's got the cross in front of him, and he's evaluating the offering of Jesus there on yonder tree. What was the man from Nazareth doing? Well, he was blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross.

And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Is there any possibility in those two verses that Paul is allowing for his own righteousness, his own suffering, somehow or other, to complete the work of Jesus on the cross? Not a bit. When Jesus looked down from the cross of Calvary and surveyed his own life's work, the final cry that left his lips, you remember, one word in the original, finished.

The Hebrew epistle says that there is only one sacrifice for sin which has been offered to satisfy the righteous judgment of God. All right then. So the apostle is not referring to adding to the work of Jesus on the cross by the statement that he now makes about filling up that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church.

Well, if he doesn't mean that, what does he mean? Well, I'll tell you. And the answer is perfectly obvious if you will study Scripture seriously and weigh up the teaching properly. Come to the latter part of that verse.

In my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church. Now, you will remember that I spelled out from the 18th verse where reference is also made to Jesus as being the head of the body, that Christian people are in a direct relationship with the Savior. I gave you the absurd analogy of my own body, which is obviously connected to the head.

If the two were separate, well, it would be rather phenomenal for you to listen to a headless man preaching. They are both interrelated. My body and my head could not be described as an organization.

They could be described as an organism. They are two vital parts of the one. So when I stub my finger on this pulpit, my brain takes up the feeling at the nerve tips of my finger.

Now, similarly, the Lord Jesus Christ has called us into his body. His body is working out his purposes on this earth. The reason why we sang a few moments ago, I serve a living Savior, was because it enabled us to sing the chorus, You ask me how I know he lives? He lives within my heart.

Jesus is alive today. He lives within his church. Now, when Jesus was on earth, was he afflicted? Indeed he was.

Let's turn to Matthew's Gospel and chapter 10. I'm not referring, incidentally, merely to the afflictions that Jesus suffered on the cross. I'm talking about the three years of his public ministry.

Matthew chapter 10 and verse 25. In fact, we'll take the reading from the 24th verse. Jesus is warning us that being his followers is going to cost us something.

The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his Lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master and the servant as his Lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household? If they have libeled and slandered me, and you're in my fellowship, you're in my household, you're part of my body, will you not likewise be slandered and maltreated? Perhaps the statement there isn't clear enough for you.

Alright, here is one that is even simpler to grasp. John chapter 15. And now we're on the 18th verse and onwards.

Jesus is again spelling out for those who will follow him that the path in front may not be an easy one. If they tread the footsteps of the Nazarene, then they can expect problems. John 15.

I think I said 16. John 15 and verse 18 and 19. If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.

If ye were of the world, the world would love his own. But because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. The point becomes quite clear.

The disciple will be paid in the same currency as his master. When the apostle Paul was on the Damascus road, prior to his conversion, you remember how he was arrested by a great light which shone down and unhorsed Paul and he fell onto the ground. The voice which came from heaven said this, Paul, or Saul, why persecutest thou me? Who was speaking? Jesus.

Where was Jesus? Well, he was in heaven. He'd been crucified, he'd been risen from the dead, and now he was ascended back to the right hand of the Father. Who has Paul been interfering with? Who was he discomforting in Jerusalem? Who was the center of his attack to be in Damascus? The Christian community.

Paul, Paul, why are you persecuting me? Jesus, you see, is the head of the body, which is his church. When Christians are hurt, Jesus is hurt. The church is not an organization.

It is not a possession. It is an organism. The Old Testament predicts that intimate relationship between the church and the Savior when we are told in Zechariah's prophecy, He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of mine eye.

And again, in all our afflictions, He was afflicted. The apostle writing to a different church, going back to the Philippians, says that one of his main objectives in life is to press forward so that he might share the fellowship of the sufferings of Jesus. The work of salvation on the cross, that has been accomplished once and for all.

But the story of the work of Jesus is not through. The gospel of Jesus Christ has always been under attack. As the Savior was libeled in yesteryear, so the church has been libeled in the years that have followed.

As people have been in difficulty because they have lived for Jesus in the centuries gone by, so they are in difficulty now. The afflictions of the Christ are not complete until the moment when the trumpet sounds and the eternal era is brought in. Yea, all that live godly shall suffer persecution, says Paul, writing to the timid Timothy, endeavoring to get him to be more courageous and strong and have more stamina as he works for Jesus.

And this, my dear friend, is what the apostle is referring to when he says that he is filling up that which is lacking in the afflictions of Jesus. And he believes that it's a pleasure to do this. And this is incredible.

The early apostles, thrown into jail, they came back and they reported to the church on release. And do you know what they said? And the word I believe is right at the end of the 5th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. They praised God that they had been counted worthy to suffer for Jesus, to enter into the same sort of life and problem as he coped with.

And it is to the fellowship of suffering that we are called, as well as to the fellowship of rejoicing. Now, what are the benefits of these afflictions that the apostle goes through on behalf of the Saviour? Well, it stimulates the church. I fill up that which is lacking in the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church.

Here are these Colossian Christians. They're going through it. They've had people on the knockers, I was telling you last week.

They have these false sects, even in the 1st century. And these people were trying to confuse the early Colossian Christian. And then there were problems in the Greek city there, the lifestyle of the Christians.

It was so removed to all the average Greek practiced and counted dear. And these Christians were really going through it. But they get a letter from Paul.

Where is he? In the Hilton Hotel in Rome? Not a bit. He's in jail. He's got the iron in his soul.

He's got the metal around his wrists. And he says, do you know as I'm writing to you, you fellows, you girls there in Colossae, now I am rejoicing. Rejoicing that I've been counted worthy to suffer for Jesus Christ.

Imagine getting a letter like that. Imagine some influential Christian writing to you. Here you are, so insignificant.

And you feel that you're going down in your circumstances. You're being sucked down to the depths of unbelief and despair. And you get a letter from someone like the Apostle Paul.

Doesn't it stimulate you? Our good friends at the Christian bookshop have sold a lot of copies of the book Joni. And this, or Joni, I forget how you pronounce her Christian name. This girl who, on her 18th birthday, dived from the top of some board into a swimming pool.

And she muffed the dive. And as a result she was paralyzed. And can only just move her mouth a little bit.

And she can paint pictures. And she can give testimony to Jesus Christ. All her personal functions and so on have to be looked after by another.

And you wonder how it could be possible for a young woman to regain sanity and some purpose in life. Being so afflicted that she did. And has stimulated thousands of people around the world as a result of her testimony.

Take Connie Ten Boom. Richard Wurmbrand. Take ordinary people in this church.

So many of you older folks who have been, I tell you, in the name of the Lord an inspiration to me. I've wondered how on earth I could possibly cope with circumstances if they all start to go awry in my life. How will I cope with physical problems as the years go by? And here you see that one and the other one.

And they don't feel very strong. They feel sometimes very, very insignificant indeed. And yet they manage.

They get through and they become an inspiration to us. And you see the point. They are also involved in this great fellowship of suffering which becomes a stimulus for the body of Christ which is His church.

Never overlook this my friend. The place that you can play. The part that you can play.

In the inspiration of others. As you have been called. Not always by your own choice.

But as you have been favored. I use that word deliberately. By God to suffer.

And as a result of showing how the Christian life is relative to your situation. You stimulate the likes of me. And countless others.

Here then is Paul. This mighty minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Having encouraged people to remain strong in the faith.

Refers to his own personal circumstances. And buttresses the argument again. I rejoice.

I am now rejoicing. In my sufferings. For you.

And I am helping to fill up that required measure of suffering within the body of Christ. Until the hour comes when the church of the redeemed shall suffer no more. And go to be with God in glory.

Well, my time is spent. And I've only dealt with half of what I intended to say this morning. Which means that next week I have quite an easy few days.

Because I shall finish off what I've got in front of me. But I think we've got more than enough right now to stimulate us. And to send us on our way rejoicing.

Called to a fellowship of suffering. But that suffering is felt by the head of the church. Even Jesus.

Who sustains us in whatever situation we might find ourselves in. I repeat. You.

Me. We are the apple of his eye. And he feels in our affliction.

And he grants grace to be able to cope with every situation that comes. Well, praise God for the relevance of this letter to our own circumstances today. And as I say, next week we'll look at the final part of that statement.

Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. Who comforteth us in all our affliction.

That we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble. By the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the afflictions of Christ abound in us.

So our consolation also abounds by Christ. Father, we pray. That as we continue in our Christian discipleship.

That we shall be able to rejoice in all our circumstances. Drawing on the sure fact that Jesus is our Saviour. His work at Calvary is complete.

And that he will give us grace to cope with all that comes our way. And enable us to know his peace which passes all understanding. Amen.