Colossians 1:24-29 Suffering Love
Welcome to our 5th
exploration of Paul’s letter to the Christians in Colossae. As we close out chapter 1 we are going to consider
the road of suffering as a natural part of a disciple’s journey. Paul will again affirm that God’s gift of
reconciliation is for anyone who will receive it and highlight the simplicity
of the message. Then we will touch upon
God’s empowerment to those who are doing the good works that have been
assigned.
Col 1:24-29 (MSG)
I want you to know
how glad I am that it's me sitting here in this jail and not you. There's a lot
of suffering to be entered into in this world—the kind of suffering Christ takes
on. I welcome the chance to take my share in the church's part of that
suffering. 25 When I became a servant in this church, I experienced this
suffering as a sheer gift, God's way of helping me serve you, laying out the
whole truth.
26 This mystery has
been kept in the dark for a long time, but now it's out in the open. 27 God
wanted everyone, not just Jews, to know this rich and glorious secret inside
and out, regardless of their background, regardless of their religious
standing. The mystery in a nutshell is just this: Christ is in you, therefore
you can look forward to sharing in God's glory. It's that simple. That is the
substance of our Message. 28 We preach Christ, warning people not to add to the
Message. We teach in a spirit of profound common sense so that we can bring
each person to maturity. To be mature is to be basic. Christ! No more, no less.
29 That's what I'm working so hard at day after day, year after year, doing my
best with the energy God so generously gives me.
Suffering. We don’t like the word. We don’t want to hear of suffering. We don’t want to see suffering. We don’t want to experience suffering. Suffering involves pain, distress, hardship,
and misery. As the Tornados of December
ripped through the Bible belt they left suffering in their wake. Suffering
involves heartbreak, grief, sorrow, and unhappiness. I think of those who lost loved ones this
past year. We stand at gravesides, look
at pictures capturing the past good times, remembering what we have lost,
suffering a constant companion. Suffering
involves anguish, affliction, and torment.
Cancer, migraines, MS, and a thousand crippling diseases, brain injury,
stroke all dump suffering upon people. Suffering we want to avoid it. Yet suffering is a way of life in a world
broken by sin.
You might think
that faith in Christ, moving you from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom
of Light, from estrangement to reconciliation, from hate to love would also
free you from suffering. It doesn’t, oh,
I wish it did. Jesus told us the truth:
John 16:33 (MSG)
I've told you all
this so that trusting me, you will be unshakable and assured, deeply at peace.
In this godless world, you will continue to experience difficulties. But take
heart! I've conquered the world."
There is suffering
because we live in a broken world. We
believe in the second coming of Jesus everything will be set right, everything
will be what it always was intended for it to be. “He'll wipe every tear from
their eyes. Death is gone for good—tears gone, crying gone, pain gone—all the
first order of things gone"
(Rev 21:4 (MSG). We have this great hope. We need hope because these types of
sufferings always leave us wondering why, wondering what the purpose is,
wondering how this can be God’s plan to prosper us (Jeremiah 29:11). When you
have no idea why you are suffering you need hope. Hope looks beyond the problem and sees the
promise.
There is another
kind of suffering. You’ve read the sign
“No Pain, No Gain.” There is suffering
we choose to enter into to obtain some desired goal. You want to be healthy, eat right, exercise,
but you want your favorite dessert, but you sacrifice dessert for achieving the
goal. Time, treasures, and instant
gratifications are sacrificed for the sake of getting what you want, where you
want. This is a kind of suffering you
can understand, a means to an end, and the result is what you want. You want to get closer to God, then you will
need to practice the 7 habits of a disciple, you will have to sacrifice
something to make room in your day for reading the bible, prayer, fellowship,
service, worship, obedience, and contemplation.
Then there is the
kind of suffering that Paul writes of, its suffering love. Love for others, meeting their need, giving
that hand up, always comes at the cost of a personal sacrifice. The sacrifice is always suffering to some
extent. For Jesus to meet the need of
humanity He suffered. For Paul to meet
the need of the Colossians, he said a result was his imprisonment, Paul
suffered. A good parent will suffer for
their child. There are sacrifices that
come along with bringing a child into the world, nurturing that child,
providing for the child. And those
sacrifices don’t stop when they become adults.
Suffering love is voluntarily giving what you could use for yourself,
and giving it away to someone else, using what you have for the benefit of
another.
Paul writes that
Jesus suffered to bring to you reconciliation with God. Do you know how to be reconciled to God? First, realize that it doesn’t matter how
good a person you are, or for that matter, how bad a person you are, every
person enters life estranged from a right relationship with God. Second, know that Jesus died so that He can
present you to the One He called Father, forgiven, spotless, and holy. This knowing is accomplished when you believe
the Message:
Romans 3:22-25
(NIV)
There is no
difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are
justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.
The response to
this realization and this knowing is committing to be a disciple of Jesus. Jesus told those who would follow to count
the cost.
Luke 14:26-28 (MSG)
Anyone who comes to
me but refuses to let go of father, mother, spouse, children, brothers,
sisters—yes, even one's self!—can't be my disciple. Anyone who won't shoulder
his cross and follow behind me can't be my disciple.
"Is there
anyone here who, planning to build a new house, doesn't first sit down and
figure the cost so you'll know if you can complete it?
When you count the
cost and trust that these promises are true, you bend your knee and ask God to
save you, to make you one of His called-out ones, to make you one set aside to
do His will in this world.
This is how you are
reconciled to God. It is God’s gift,
but it is a gift costly to give.
Suffering love, Jesus gave what we consider most precious, life, His
life, so that all who acknowledge, believe, commit, and ask can live their
lives to the full. If reconciliation
with God is something you desire, today is a good day to seek God with all your
heart, as you do God Himself will find you and change your life forever. Let me know if God meets with you, I want to
encourage you in your new-found faith.
Paul wrote that
Jesus suffered to bring you to God and now he Paul was suffering to continue
the mission. That mission was to
proclaim the Message and to mentor believers.
Because Paul was carrying out his mission he was arrested. We can imagine that while in Ephesus Epaphras
was trained by Paul, who in turn proclaimed the Message is Colossae. If it wasn’t for Paul’s suffering in Ephesus,
the message would not have been preached to the Colossians. Paul says suffering
love for the sake of the gospel is a privilege.
One that he readily accepts, and not with gritted determination, but
accepts suffering love as a gift, finding joy in the fact that others are
blessed because of his efforts.
Suffering love is a gift. It is
an imitation of Jesus, doing what he has done, and now continuing through
you.
Suffering love is
not easy. I just rather love instead of
suffer while doing it. This paradigm,
suffering that others might be blessed, makes you a hero. Something is worth suffering for and you decided
to do it. God rewards your heroism.
Revelation 22:12
(MSG)
"Yes, I'm on
my way! I'll be there soon! I'm bringing my payroll with me. I'll pay all
people in full for their life's work.
Watching someone
grow deeper, grow up, and grow fruit is a reward in and of itself. To be an agent of blessing to others is what
your service is all about. Love meets
the needs of another at the cost of a personal sacrifice, this task is what
Christians are expected to do. God has
gifted you, now you go gift another.
We know that the
Jews were called God chosen people. Now
Paul proclaims God’s mystery. Salvation
was not to be the personal blessing of the Jews, but open to all.
Romans 10:12-13
(NIV)
For there is no
difference between Jew and Gentile--the same Lord is Lord of all and richly
blesses all who call on him, for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the
Lord will be saved."
Everyone who enters
into a right relationship with God shares in God’s glory. Paul wants everyone to know that God’s gift
is free to all. A right relationship is
to be maintained as we learned last time, God’s glory is yours “if you continue
in your faith, established and firm (Colossians 1:23). Behind the scenes, we can surmise that teachers
were wanting to do add ons. Believe in
Christ and... Believe in Christ and do…
Paul writes “no.” When you bend the
knee, Jesus is in you.
Paul explains to
his readers, that he is glad to suffer to mentor them, to present them perfect
in Christ. One more thing we should not.
Suffering love is empowered by God. When we are serving others, loving others,
God fills you with His power, it is still a struggle, but you have everything
you need to get the job done.
Paul had an end
game. Preach, teach and mentor as many
people as possible. What’s your end game?
What are you called to do? Whatever
it is, and it will be something, do your best, pray that it’s blessed, and let
Jesus take care of the rest.
There is a hard
reality in today’s teaching: suffering is normal.
We want to do
everything we can to avoid suffering but we are stuck in a world that is
suffering.
We suffer to obtain
something we want putting aside the pleasures of the day to obtain a future
reward.
Suffering love is suffering
we willing enter into for the benefit of another, but it’s still
suffering, your deed is given at the cost of a personal sacrifice.
The good news in
God empowers you to be like Jesus, so all you have to do is choose to be a
blessing.
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