“Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of His body, that is, the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the Word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to His saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all His energy that He powerfully works within me.” Col. 1:24-29
Devotional Thought For The Day
One could look at Christianity as a kind, unusual, unlikely, and counter-cultural religion that sprang up in Asia Minor about 2,000 years ago, and strangely took root over the course of 300 years of sporadic persecution against it [some highly violent], and eventually took over much of the known and civilized world of western civilization. One could look at the “ministers” of this religion as being rather strange individuals, people who had become convinced that they had been entrusted with some kind of “cosmic” instruction which came from God and had to do with all people, a radicalized group who were willing to suffer, toil, and pour out their life’s energy for this “cause,” and even suffer death for it – as their “Lord” had done. How strange this whole message must have seemed to those who had no exposure to the concept of a historical context of God’s actions in human history – creation, fall, promise of redemption, the calling of Abraham, the formation of Israel, deliverance from Egypt, foundation of a great kingdom, judgment for unfaithfulness, captivity, restoration, but subjugation to foreign powers, and the birth of the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior, the Son of God as the Lamb of God, and the establishment of His church.
Those who want to look at “religions” as having to do primarily with mental, spiritual, and intellectual constructs that have essentially nothing to do with reality, will look at the message of Christ [and the message of other religions] and the whole business of religious ritual and behavior, as imaginary and foolish. Many within the church today want to look at Christianity in much the same way – as essentially mere “words” and thoughts, but words and ideas that kind of make me feel better about life and myself, or help explain the inexplicable, or give me some hope for the concerns we have about death – but NOT about ultimate reality, God, the very nature of the cosmos and of genuinely human life. And when these people bump into genuine Christians within the church they are astounded and shocked that such naive creatures still exist, and soon realize that these “Christians” are threatening their comfortable assumptions and the very health and safety of “their” institution. And when these Christians, convinced as Paul was of the historical context of God’s actions in human history down to this very day, persist in proclaiming and asserting “the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory,” with complete devotion to “presenting everyone mature in Christ,” and they do so with “all His energy that He powerfully works” within us, they may become quite angry and abusive at our pesky persistence.
So which is it? Is the church and the ministry that which Paul presents to the Colossians and to us, or is it what modern and sophisticated people think it is? Is the history real, all of the blood, sweat, and tears, or is it fictional, a series of tales spun to merely teach us intellectual and “spiritual” lessons? I can assure you that Christ’s sweat, bloodshed, and death were real, and Paul tells us the same about himself, and invites his readers into the same experience. Numerous historians recorded the reality of this within the life of the early church. And of course, there are numerous Christians in the world today who have experienced the same – both “the riches of the glory of Christ in you” and also the suffering and abuse that comes to followers of Christ as we “fill up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of His body, that is, the church.” Such afflictions come from those outside of the church, often from the adherents of the “religions,” and also often from the sophisticated within churchly institutions who insist that their “church” be something quite different. It is a very interesting thing, that modern film-makers present the biblical accounts as “entertainment,” but the entertainment presents the blood, sweat, and tears as real. One group experiences the entertainment as virtually fictional, the other group, genuine Christians, identifies with it as real, as that which corresponds to their own personal experiences.
So people, even within the church, will have to decide and choose, but there will always be genuine Christians and genuine ministers of Christ who have joined Paul and emulate him. Our preaching, mantra, commitment, and ministry is the same: “Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.” And we dare not think of this as a human endeavor, or attempt to carry this out with our own will-power and determination, for we are completely insufficient for such a task. Rather, we must understand that we have been engaged for a cosmic task which requires “all His energy that He powerfully works” within us. It is real, and through all the toil and affliction we remember that eternal blessings are at stake – “the hope of glory.” Others will reject us for this ministry, and even assail us. We can submit to them and acquiesce, and believe that there is nothing real, but only “thoughts” and “ideas” and religion in Christianity. But there is already enough of such cynicism within the church, and the shock that will be experienced by such sophisticates when the reality of Christ in His glory is apparent is something I would not like to experience. So let us press on in the ministry given to us, and in our ambition to be mature in Christ, with all that this entails, until the hope of glory is realized in us – according to His power and promise.
Prayer For The Day
Dear Lord Jesus, forbid that we backslide into the cynicism and ignorant sophistication of those who want to merely play church rather than experiencing Your power and glory. Help us to follow You in accepting the afflictions that fill up Your suffering from the world You created for Your glory, that has fallen into sin and unbelief. Thank You for Your energy which You powerfully work within us, which alone is able to accomplish Your will in us, for us, and through us. Amen.