Colossians, Pt 3: The Gain of Pain

September 22, 2019             NOTES NOT EDITED

The Gain of Pain

Colossians 1:24-29

SIS:  Jesus is sovereign over the suffering in our lives and God does not waste even the slightest pain in our lives but infuses it with meaning and purpose.

One of the great theologians of the 20th Century (though I don't agree with everything he taught) was a man by the name of William Barclay.  He is the author of one of the finest commentaries on the New Testament I have read, "Daily Study Bible Series."  Barclay said this about suffering:  "To be chosen by God so often means at one and the same time a crown of joy and cross of sorrow."

Another important theologian, who lived as a boy through the horrors of the Nazi death camps, says this:  "For just as the death of Christ embraces the various forms of suffering in our lives, so the resurrection of Christ must be the ground of our hope" (J.C. Beker).

Indeed, these two themes of suffering and hope seem to be the bookends that define our lives in Christ.  In Christ, our deepest suffering is as important as our highest joys.  The two cannot be separated or our suffering is meaningless and any hope we have is a false hope.  Suffering and hope, joy and sorrow, the cross and the crown must be taken together in order to understand what I call, "The Gain of Pain."  Others call this redemptive suffering, or "suffering hope." 

Without Christ suffering is just pain without purpose—misery without meaning.  Suffering without Christ is something that must simply be endured.  But, suffering as a believer is a whole other matter.   Just as Jesus is sovereign over sin in our salvation, Jesus is sovereign over the suffering in our lives. 

Paul uses the word, "suffering" no less than 45 times in his writings.  This does not include the multitude of times suffering is mentioned in 1Peter, or the fact that the entire theme of Revelation is the overcoming of suffering and the coming of the painless Kingdom of Heaven.  Dealing with suffering is a fundamental -- some scholars say, the fundamental -- issue in Paul's writings.

Dealing with evil and suffering IS the fundamental basis for all world religions.  My hope today is that we will all leave here this morning with a clear understanding that Jesus is sovereign over the suffering in our lives and God does not waste even the slightest pain in our lives but infuses it with meaning and purpose.

Let's read what the Holy Spirit led Paul to deliver to the Colossian church in regard to suffering:

²⁴ Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I am completing in my flesh what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for His body, that is, the church. ²⁵ I have become its servant, according to God’s administration that was given to me for you, to make God’s message fully known, ²⁶ the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to His saints. ²⁷ God wanted to make known among the Gentiles the glorious wealth of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. ²⁸ We proclaim Him, warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ. ²⁹ I labor for this, striving with His strength that works powerfully in me.

This passage breaks down to three important truths, or benefits, in regard to the suffering in the life of a believer.  First, suffering

1.  allows us fuller PARTICIPATION in the life of Christ (v. 24)

²⁴ Now I rejoice in my sufferings  for you, and I am completing in my flesh what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for His body,  that is, the church.

This is one of the most puzzling verses in the Bible for many people. It is puzzling because of the paradox set up by using the word, "rejoice," in connection with the word, "suffer."  Most Christians understand readily what it means to suffer “for” Jesus, as in the case of persecution and martyrdom.  Paul, and the N.T. in general, takes that idea a step further to express a sense of suffering “with” Jesus.  Various terms are used such as “sharing in His sufferings; participating in His sufferings; or the fellowship of His sufferings” (Phil. 3:10, various translations).  When we suffer “for” Jesus by participating in His Kingdom’s work, we are also “suffering with Jesus” in understanding more clearly exactly what Jesus did for us on the cross—though we will never understand it fully. 

Suffering is the deepest level of emotion we will ever feel. It is not “deeper THAN” love, but in fact deepens our love.  Anyone who has walked through the suffering with a loved one knows how sharing suffering welds two hearts together like nothing else.

I've already mentioned how redemptive suffering, or suffering hope is fundamental to understanding the full gospel -- from cross to crown, death to victory, suffering to joy.  Paul's juxtaposition of "rejoicing" with "suffering" is key to understanding our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.  Unfortunately, many (in fact most) popular preachers seem to indicate that the very essence of salvation in Christ is to be "completely free from suffering."  Such health and wealth, prosperity preachers often quote from Isaiah 53:5:

"by His wounds (stripes) we are healed."

I absolutely believe this truth and I resolutely hold to this promise:  salvation ultimately will lead to the total abolition of human suffering for those who become believers. However, prosperity preachers confuse the end with the means to the end.  Paul clearly teaches (as does the whole of the NT) that the means through which we have complete and total victory over suffering is by "participation" in the suffering of Christ, not isolation from suffering in this world.

First of all this verse puzzles some because it juxtaposes -- places together -- the idea of "rejoicing" with "suffering."  Normally, these two ideas are mutually exclusive -- you can't have one with the other. It is not so puzzling if one understands that the word, “rejoicing, or expressing joy” is of the same semantic family as “grace.”  Grace and joy are siblings in the Providence of God.  Chairo (rejoicing), is a verb form related the Greek noun, chara, meaning “joy.”  Both these words are also related to the word, charis, meaning grace.  This is not simply an incidental relationship based upon common letters (char--, car), but it represents an experiential bond between the idea of joy and the presence of grace.  Joy does not exist apart from grace, and true grace always provides for the expression of joy, even in suffering.  This is what God meant when He addressed Paul’s personal suffering in 2Cor. 12:9.  God said,

“My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.”

The joy Paul says he feels in the midst of suffering is not some naïve wish or shallow dismissal of a physically painful situation.  Paul genuinely feels joy because he has genuinely been touched by the grace of God, and knows God will bring purpose out of His pain, and ultimately take the pain away.  Paul is simply appropriating the gift of joy (chara, cara) which comes in the package of grace (charis, cariV).  Rejoicing (chairō, cairw) is the expression of joy, which is based upon grace and independent of one’s present circumstances.

Second, this verse is puzzling because of the words, " I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking."  We know of course that the redemption and sacrifice of Christ was in no way lacking.  The sacrifice of Christ was complete, as Hebrews teaches us, "once for all."  The sacrifice of the Eternal Son became eternal payment for all our sins.

So, what was Paul "filling up?"  What was "lacking?" This phrase must be taken together to refer to the fact that our lives are a continuation of the life of Christ on earth.  We, the church or followers of Christ, are literally the "body of Christ continuing to live out the sacrificial mission of Christ."  This is made clear by Paul in Galatians: (2:20)

" ²⁰ I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."

Paul often refers to believers as the "body of Christ."  For example Romans 12:5  so in Christ we who are many form one body or  1Cor. 12:13:  So it is with Christ. ¹³ For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body.

Paul is claiming that when we suffer in our lives in a Christian manner before the world, we are continuing the ministry in our body, the church, that He began in His body on the cross.  Our salvation was secured in, through, and by the suffering of Jesus, and our ministry in the name of Jesus is also accomplished through our suffering with hope before an unbelieving world.  Also, when we willing suffer by sacrificing our time, talents, and treasures to extend the Kingdom of God on earth, we are extending, “or filling up,” the ministry Jesus started on this earth.  I’ll expand on this aspect of suffering in just a minute.  I want us to be clear on what “completing what is lacking means.” 

 This is what Jesus meant when He told the disciples,  greater works than these will [you] do, because I am going to the Father (Jn. 14:12).

Jesus did not mean greater in quality, but greater in quantity.  It’s hard to top “raising the dead” in quality of miracle-working.  Through suffering and sacrifice for the sake of the Church, Jesus finishes building the Church He started while on earth.  The word for "lacking,"alos means "later, after, or second."  When we suffer we are continuing in the Spirit and power of Christ.  We are never closer to Jesus on our mission than when we suffer in hope.  I believe this is the great mystery of the three dark hours after Jesus died (Mk. 15:33)

At the sixth hour darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour.

At the height of Our Lord's Suffering, when the midday sun was scorching His battered flesh and evaporating every drop of life from His body -- God turned the lights out!  This is a marvelous part of the story that is, I believe, very misunderstood.  As Jesus was embracing the world through His suffering, God was embracing the Son.  This moment is too intimate for the world to watch and too deep for the world to understand -- so God did it in private.

My point is simply this:  when you are in deep, soul-crunching suffering, you have the opportunity to participate in a more direct, intimate fashion with Jesus Christ and understand His sacrifice more fully than at any other time.  Do not despise suffering because you are despising an opportunity to participate with Christ -- and fill up His suffering to the full -- in a way that can come in no other fashion.

Paul said, "I rejoice in suffering" in verse 24 because in it I share in the glory of Our Lord and Savior.  Let me expand a bit further in how a deeper participation “IN” the ministry of Jesus leads to a more fruitful proclamation “Of” the gospel of Jesus.

2.  Another great truth may be unpacked from this passage in regard to suffering and hope:  Suffering provides more fruitful results in the PROCLAMATION  of the gospel of Jesus Christ (vv. 25-26; 28-29)

There are two very important words I want to highlight from verse 24 before I go on to the following verses, "for you."  Paul’s suffering had a “servant” quality (see verse 25). 

Our suffering not only has deep meaning for us personally because it gives us a fuller participation with and understanding of the suffering of Our Savior, but our suffering also has meaning for others, when we place our hope and full confidence in The Lord.  Paul rejoiced because he realized that our suffering can speak to people in a way that our words alone cannot.  Let me repeat that:  Our suffering can speak to people in ways that our words alone cannot.

Suffering not only has to do with our PARTICIPATION with Christ but also our PROCLAMATION of Christ.  Let us continue reading in verse 25 and following:

²⁵ I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness. 

Then verses 28-29:  We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect [full] in Christ. ²⁹ To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.

These verses talk about "fulness, energy, and power" that come when hold fast our testimony even in the midst of great suffering.  Suffering waters our words like the rain waters the dry ground causing it to sprout into fruitfulness for the Kingdom of God.

Hebrews 11 is oft referred to as the "Roll Call of Faith."  Throughout that chapter the exploits and accomplishments of a litany of representative saints is given from Abraham to "still others unnamed."  The remarkable fact is that the fabric of the testimony of every one of these saints had a common thread:  suffering!

Some of the suffering was as severe as "death."  Of Abel the Scriptures say, "And by faith he still speaks even though he is dead" (Heb. 11:4).

The remarkable truth is that suffering does not diminish one's testimony to the sovereignty and power of God -- suffering enhances that testimony.  Suffering provides more fruitful results in the PROCLAMATION  of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Suffering with hope speaks more about Jesus Christ than our words alone could ever say.

We should never surrender to suffering, but we should embrace it as a tool God uses to weed the worldliness out of our lives and to plant the good seed of the gospel in the lives of others.  Notice the connections being made in verse 29:

²⁹ To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.

On one side of the ledger (accounting sheet) of our lives we have what appear to be debits:  "labor, struggling," but on the other side of the ledger of our lives are written these credits:  "energy and power."  The energy and power of hope well outweighs the discomfort and disappointment of suffering -- if you are a Christian.

Suffering is the way God removes the weeds of our lives so that the seed of our message can become fruitful in the lives of others.  When you are flat on your back, or pressed against a wall by trial and tribulation, all you have left is your faith in Almighty God.  Suffering works a little bit like Windex.  It cleans off the windows of our lives so that the light of Jesus can shine through with crystal like clarity. 

Never despise suffering.  Embrace it.  Suffering with hope will add "energy and power" to your testimony.  It will have an affect on others that is supernatural. The word for "struggling" in verse 29 comes from the root word, āgōn.  This word refers to an "intense struggle."  We get the word, "agony," from this word.  In verse 24 the word for suffering (fr pathos) speaks more of the “emotional” side of suffering. 

The word in verse 29 for energy comes from the Greek word, "energēō" and means to "be effective, or useful."  Paul says in vs. 29:  "in our agony we gain energy or effectiveness in sharing our testimony."  Remember God said, “power is perfected in weakness through grace” (2Cor. 12:9).  Though suffering may drain us physically and emotionally—and most certainly does—suffering submersed in grace energizes and empowers us spiritually, especially for evangelism.

Paul makes it clear that one of the benefits that arises out of the suffering of a saint is a deeper understanding or participation in what Jesus experienced for us on the cross.  Another benefit is that suffering supercharges a person's message and gives it greater effectiveness and fruitfulness.

3.  The third truth arising out of this text on suffering is this:  "suffering creates a deeper appreciation for the promise of heaven."  v. 27.

²⁷ God wanted to make known among the Gentiles the glorious wealth of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Particularly I want to focus on the last part of this verse:  “the hope of glory."  Suffering without hope leads to despair.  The reality of the matter is this:  you are going to suffer in this life and you are going to one day die.  WHAT THEN? 

For the non-believer the answer to that question, "What then?" is a big fat QUESTION MARK (?).  Most non-believers simply want to avoid that question.  They have no answer, and they have NO HOPE.

What purpose is there for our suffering if this world is all there is?  The answer is haunting:  NO PURPOSE AT ALL.  We are back to Shakespeare's  solliloquy in regard to life spoken through MacBeth:

Life is but a tale told by and idiot//
Full of sound and fury//Signifying nothing.

Paul agreed with Shakespeare's dim appraisal of life if there is no hope beyond the grave -- if there is no ultimate meaning for our, sometimes unimaginable, suffering.  Paul said, and I'll paraphrase for empasis:  "If Christ was not raised and there is no hope beyond this life, we Christians are the most miserable people on earth because we have lived according to a meaningless lie." (1Cor. 15:17).

Friend, I'm here to tell you today that there is hope in spite of whatever suffering you are enduring or may endure.  Cling to this promise.  God will come through every time.  God will heal you.  God will deliver you.  God will preserve you.  God will reward you.

When suffering has so battered our life that we barely even have any life left, this is when the promise of heaven -- the "hope of glory" -- becomes even sweeter for the believer. When you are about to lose everything this life has to offer -- including life itself -- it becomes even easier to cling to that wonderful promise of heaven -- "Christ in you, the hope of glory."

Only a deluded and deranged person would seek out suffering.  With all the suffering in the world we cannot avoid, it seems only sane to avoid all the suffering we can.  But, we cannot avoid ALL suffering.  And, if we truly live a sacrificial life of service to Jesus Christ, we will have MORE suffering NOT LESS.  What we must know, and what we must cling to is the knowledge that, through grace, there is GAIN IN OUR PAIN.