Last week Paul gave us a tremendous description of Jesus Christ. He's no ordinary man, He is indeed God, but of course He is fully human. Interestingly enough, as Paul finished up his description of Jesus Christ, he turned his attention to himself. Now something to keep in mind: Any time Paul speaks about himself, it's not because he has a huge ego, it's because he intends for his life, his thinking, all of this, to be an example and a pattern for you and me to learn from.
Notes
Scripture quotations from the New International Version (NIV) (1984)
24 Now 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.
- Seems like a pretty insensitive thing to do!
- Who in their right mind rejoices over the sufferings of others?
- Christians do
- Jesus suffered horribly before He was ever nailed to the cross, then He suffered some more on that cross, and eventually, He died
- To pay the penalty for our sins
- To make peace between us and God
- Hebrews 12:2 tells us that Jesus didn’t look forward to the cross
- He endured it
- He sweat blood in the Garden before His arrest
- And pleaded with His Father to find another way, if possible
- He didn’t want to suffer what we needed
- But there was no other way, so He submitted to His Father
- For the joy set before Him, beyond the cross
- The joy of obeying His Father
- The joy of rescuing all who believe in Him from eternal damnation
- And we rejoice over what was suffered for us
- We’ve taken the cross as the symbol of our faith
- Of course, we’ve made it into pretty jewelry
- We can’t forget: It’s an instrument of torture
- Epaphras apparently suffered in order to bring the Gospel to the Colossians, Laodiceans and the people of Hieropolis—or as a result of sharing with them
- He’s now is in jail with Paul and has hear the stories
- But Paul doesn’t say he rejoices in what Epaphras’ sufferings resulted in—he rejoices in what Epaphras suffered for them!
- How can you find joy in someone else suffering for the Gospel and for other Christians?
- Hebrews 5:8-9 (NIV) tells us
- Although he [Jesus] was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him
- Suffering teaches obedience
- You don’t know obedience until you must suffer to do what you’re told
- When the instruction goes against everything you believe and want, but you do it anyway—then you know what true obedience is
- Before that, you’re just doing what you think is good and right, and it just happens to line up with what God or your authority want
- Epaphras was made a little more perfect when he chose to obey, even though it would cost him personally, physically, emotionally, financially—who knows how many different ways!
- I would encourage you to look at James 1:2-4, 1 Peter 1:6-7 and Romans 5:1-5
- “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds,” says James (NIV).
- Trials “have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed,” says Peter (NIV).
- “We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us,” Paul writes to the Romans (NIV).
- Hebrews 5:8-9 (NIV) tells us
- Paul willingly called others to suffer as he himself had suffered (2 Tim 1:8; 2 Tim 2:3-4)
- Not just rejoicing that others suffer for Christ, but gladly takes on all kinds of suffering for Christ
- Perhaps you’ve heard of Paul’s “thorn in the flesh,”
- Some physical problem that caused Paul no little pain
- Making it difficult for Paul to serve the Lord
- He considered it a hindrance and prayed three times for the Lord to remove it
- Surely you’ve read or heard about 2 Corinthians 12:9 (NIV)
- Jesus answered Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” And Paul responded, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.”
- But Paul didn’t just learn to accept and boast about his weakness
- He says in 2 Corinthians 12:10 that he learned from that to “delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.”
- Because he discovered that when he was weak or insulted or persecuted, he experienced the power and presence of Christ in ways he never could when everything went smoothly
- Notice, Paul makes clear that it is when he suffers “for Christ’s sake,” not for his own mistakes or the difficulties of work or study or anything else, but only the difficulties and suffering that come from serving Jesus.
- He gladly takes on more suffering and rejoices in the suffering of others in Christ’s service
- Because they exalt the name of Jesus everywhere they go
- They help others obtain salvation from sin and hell
- They come to know Christ in ways others don’t and can’t
- For Paul, there’s nothing more valuable in life for anyone than to know Christ as fully and completely as possible (Php 3:7-11)
- What value in telling others?
- Display the exceeding value of Jesus Christ
- Illustrate the overriding urgency of the Gospel
- Show the incredible preciousness of all people
- You and I discover
- what really matters in this life
- what this life is for
- what our real purpose is in being here
- Encourage and invite others to likewise display the glory of Jesus Christ and the urgency of their need by giving up their lives to tell other about Him
- We’ll see more in the next chapter
25 I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness—26 the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints.
- Paul commissioned by God, not men (Galatians 1:11-2:9)
- Whole Counsel of God needed (Acts 20:18-27)
- You can not depend on preachers/teachers alone, unless you meet with them daily
- You can read the whole Word of God yourself, to ensure you miss nothing of all God’s teachings
- I’m so encouraged by the things I’m hearing, that so many of you have begun to read your Bibles on your own—praise God!
- A Word of Caution: Do not merely read it; do what it says, live as it teaches you to live! (James 1:22-25)
27 To 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.
- First Saints didn’t understand that we Gentiles could also share in the Gospel riches (Acts 11:17-18, NIV)
- 17 “So if God gave them the same gift as he gave us, who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could oppose God?”
- 18 When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, “So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life.”
- Christ in you = hope of glory
- Rom 8:9-14
- Indwelling Spirit (of God = of Christ) =
- body dead because of sin; spirit alive because of Christ
- body will be given life
- Redemption of bodies (Rom 8:23-25)
- Saved in this hope
- Wait patiently for it
- Redemption of bodies (Rom 8:23-25)
- obligated to put misdeeds of body to death by Spirit
- Sons of God = led by the Spirit of God
- Indwelling Spirit (of God = of Christ) =
- Rom 8:17-18
- Co-heirs with Christ if we share in His sufferings
- We will then also share in His glory
- Rom 8:9-14
28 We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.
- Proclaim Christ: preach gospel
- Requires both admonishing (correction, reminder)
- No distinction between love and rebuke
- Rev 3:19 (NIV): “Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent.” – Jesus
- Heb 12:4-8 (NIV):
- In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
- And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: "My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
- because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son." [Proverbs 3:11-12]
- Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?
- If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons.
- Love cares enough to correct, admonish, rebuke
- Where correction, admonishment, rebuke do not exist, there is no love
- There is only conflict-avoidance
- thinking of self and comfort,
- keeping peace and quiet rather than making peace,
- condemning all to eternal hell rather than calling people to the truth and repentance
- No distinction between love and rebuke
- Teaching with all wisdom (instruction, training)
- Not everything called wisdom actually is
- 1 Cor 1:17-25, 30-31 (NIV):
- For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
- For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
- For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate."
- Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
- For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.
- Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom,
- but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,
- but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
- For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength.
- ….
- It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God--that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.
- Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."
- 1 Cor 2:13-16 (NIV)
- This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.
- The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
- The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment:
- "For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.
- 1 Cor 3:18-20 (NIV)
- Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a "fool" so that he may become wise.
- For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight. As it is written: "He catches the wise in their craftiness";
- and again, "The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile."
- We’ll see more of this in the next chapter
- Goal: Present everyone perfect in Christ
- Not just positionally perfect by being in Christ
- If only perfect by being included in Christ, then all we need is the Gospel that brings salvation and implants the Holy Spirit
- No need for any other teaching about how we are to live as believers in Christ
- No need for discipline, as in Mt 18 or 1 Cor 5
- Practically perfect by walking in Christ ways
- Admonishment comes in here
- As do all the instructions that follow in later chapters of this letter and the latter half of all Paul’s letters
- Not just positionally perfect by being in Christ
29 To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.
- Our labor is not dependent on our own energy or strength, but God’s
- We can regularly, constantly struggle—nothing more important!
- We can suffer deprivation, loss, persecution
- Eph 4:17-19 (NIV):
- So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.
- They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.
- Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.
- 1Cor 15:9-10 (NIV):
- For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
- But 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.
- 2Pe 1:3-11 (NIV):
- His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
- Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
- For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge;
- and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness;
- and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.
- For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
- But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.
- Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall,
- and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
- The same energy that enables Paul’s ministry is the same power that enables our obedience and victory over sin
- Biggest lesson: We need suffering, hardship, discipline in our lives
- Not just any suffering, but suffering for Christ and His sake
- Because we’re often wrong
- Because we think we’re wise but we’re not
- Our wisdom is earthly, natural, even demonic (James 3:15)
- We don’t know God like we should
- We’re not so willing to learn and change to walk in His ways
- So we need correction, discipline, rebuke, admonition
- If we were humble, we would only need words of instruction and correction
- Because we tend to think more highly of ourselves than we ought, we usually need something stronger
- Because Christ is worthy
- When we’re doing right,
- Suffering strengthens our faith
- In suffering we experience the reality and power of Christ in ways we never would without suffering
- Suffering shows the world how valuable Jesus is
- How important the Gospel is
- How valuable their lives are to God
- When we’re doing right,
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