Colossians 1:24-29: Paul's Ministry for the Colossians

Colossians 1:24-29: Paul’s Ministry for the Colossians

We’ve been working our way passage by passage through the book of Colossians, and today the next passage we come to is Colossians 1:24-29. Hear now the words of the Living and True God:

²⁴ 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, ²⁵ 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, ²⁶ the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. ²⁷ 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. ²⁸ Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. ²⁹ For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.  

May God bless the reading of his Word.

David Livingstone was a missionary to Africa in the 1800’s. He was actually one of the first Europeans ever to navigate through the African interior. No European had ever before set foot in many of the places where David Livingstone set foot. And to say the least, it was quite dangerous. He was attacked over thirty times by lions and other wild animals. His life was constantly threatened also from illnesses like malaria and dysentery. At one point, he completely lost contact with the outside world for six years and was presumed to be dead.

But the reason he did what he did and went where he went was because he understood that Jesus has called us to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. He believed so much in advancing the gospel that he was even willing to die in the course of doing so. And many of us would look at David Livingstone’s life and admire him for the sacrifices he made as he worked to spread the gospel. 

But listen to what he says about that—specifically about the idea of him making a sacrifice: “For my own part, I have never ceased to rejoice that God has appointed me to such an office. People talk of the sacrifice I have made in spending so much of my life in Africa…. Is that a sacrifice which brings its own blest reward in healthful activity, the consciousness of doing good, peace of mind, and a bright hope of a glorious destiny hereafter? Away with the word in such a view, and with such a thought! It is emphatically no sacrifice. Say rather it is a privilege. Anxiety, sickness, suffering, or danger, now and then, with a foregoing of the common conveniences and charities of this life, may make us pause, and cause the spirit to waver, and the soul to sink; but let this only be for a moment. All these are nothing when compared with the glory which shall be revealed in and for us. I never made a sacrifice.”

So, according to Livingstone, when you consider the eternal rewards God promises to those who faithfully serve him, nothing we do for God during our earthly lives can be considered a sacrifice. Instead, Livingstone says, it’s a privilege. He counted it a privilege to go where he went, do what he did, and suffer as he suffered. Along these same lines, Livingstone also famously said, “If a commission by an earthly king is considered an honor, how can a commission by a Heavenly King be considered a sacrifice?”

And the reason I share this is because I believe this is precisely the mentality the Apostle Paul had as well—as evidenced by what he writes in the biblical passage before us today of Colossians 1:24-29. You may recall that, as Paul wrote this letter to the Christians of Colossae, he was sitting in a Roman prison because of his gospel ministry. Yet we see here how passionate he was about the ministry God had given him to such an extent that was quite willing to endure whatever suffering came upon him as a result of that ministry. So, the main idea of this passage is that Paul was wholeheartedly devoted to the sacred ministry God had entrusted to him. Again, Paul was wholeheartedly devoted to the sacred ministry God had entrusted to him.

It's also helpful to keep in mind that Paul’s writing this letter to the Colossian church because of the false teachers who had infiltrated the church and who were spreading teachings that directly undermined the gospel. So, Paul writes what he does in this particular passage in order to further establish the divine authority of his teachings and the overall credibility of his ministry.

And as we’ll see, even though Paul’s ministry was certainly unique—since he was, after all, an apostle—there’s still a lot of overlap between Paul’s ministry and the kind of ministry each one of us is called to have. So, it’s my prayer that, as we examine what Paul’s written here, God would fill our hearts with fresh passion to serve him faithfully in the ministry he’s given each of us.

I’d like to examine these verses under five headings, corresponding to five aspects of Paul’s ministry: the personal cost of Paul’s ministry, the divine stewardship of Paul’s ministry, the central message of Paul’s ministry, the pastoral goal of Paul’s ministry, and the supernatural empowerment for Paul’s ministry. And if you didn’t get a chance to write all of those down, that’s okay; you’ll see them as we walk through these verses.

The Personal Cost of Paul’s Ministry

So, let’s begin by looking at the personal cost of Paul’s ministry in verse 24. He writes, “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.”

Now, when we first read this, it’s natural for us to wonder, how in the world is Paul able to rejoice in his sufferings? Like, who does that? If most people today encountered someone who seemed to be rejoicing in their suffering, they might wonder whether that person needed some sort of psychological evaluation. Yet, I think we can be quite confident that it wasn’t any kind of psychological issue that led Paul to rejoice in his sufferings but rather an understanding of how his sufferings served to advance the gospel and build the church. That’s why he refers to them as “my sufferings for your sake.”

Paul knew that his imprisonment was the necessary consequence of his ministry and that, without his ministry, the church of Colossae wouldn’t exist. Paul was also very aware of how his willingness to suffer inspired the Colossian Christians to be more devoted to the gospel themselves. In the midst of his suffering, he was serving as an example for them. That’s the sense in which Paul’s sufferings were “for the sake” of the Colossians.

Yet Paul then says something that, at first, seems rather confusing and even perplexing. He states that, “in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church.” The question, of course, is what exactly it means for Paul to “fill up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions.” Is there really something “lacking” in what Jesus suffered on the cross? 

To be clear, I don’t believe there’s anything whatsoever “lacking” in what Jesus suffered as it relates to our salvation. Indeed, there are plenty of verses throughout the New Testament that teach that Jesus’s death on the cross is fully sufficient for the salvation of his people. In fact, as recently as verse 21-22, Paul told the Colossians, ²¹ And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, ²² he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him. That certainly sounds to me like everything necessary for our reconciliation to God was fully accomplished at the cross.

So, whatever Paul means in verse 24, we can be sure he doesn’t mean that Jesus only accomplished partial atonement on the cross and that Paul himself had to come in and make that atonement complete. As Jesus hung on the cross, he didn’t say, “It is started.” He said, “It is finished.”

Instead, I believe the best way to interpret what Paul says here about “filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions” is simply as a statement that Paul’s sufferings are a continuation and an extension of the sufferings of Jesus. As Paul suffered for Jesus, there’s a very real sense in which Jesus was suffering through Paul. That’s how closely Jesus identifies with his people in their suffering—especially when their suffering is for his sake. When we suffer persecution, it’s as though Jesus himself is suffering persecution.

We can see this reality in what Jesus said to Paul—then known as Saul—on the road to Damascus. As you may remember, Saul was zealously persecuting Christians all throughout the region. Yet when Jesus confronted him in Acts 9:4, he asked him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” So, Jesus was actually being persecuted in and through the persecution of his people.

Not too long ago, I heard about a physician named Helen Roseveare who was serving as a missionary in the African country of Zaire. And when a revolutionary uprising engulfed the country, she was taken prisoner and basically tortured for five and half months. On one occasion, she was on the verge of being executed, but a seventeen-year-old came to her defense and was mercilessly beaten as a result and left for dead. This caused Dr. Roseveare to become severely discouraged and even to begin to question whether God had forsaken her. However, she would later report that God met here in that moment of despair and impressed on her heart something along these lines: “Twenty years ago you asked me for the privilege of being a missionary, the privilege of being identified with me. These are not your sufferings; they are my sufferings.” I believe that’s the sense in which Paul speaks in our main passage of “filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions.”

So, as we think about ourselves and our own lives, perhaps we should ask ourselves how willing we are to endure suffering—even mild suffering—for the sake of the gospel. Although we might be very sincere in our devotion to Jesus and our desire to serve him, it’s nevertheless very easy to idolize earthly comfort, earthly “security,” and earthly prosperity. It’s natural for us to desire these things and therefore allow them to simply become too important to us.

And the key way we know they’ve become too important to us is when our desire for them causes us to shrink back from doing things God would have us do such as having a gospel conversation with someone or standing firm in our biblical convictions at great cost to ourselves or giving sacrificially for the sake of God’s kingdom. Are we willing to suffer for Jesus? Are we even willing to be inconvenienced for Jesus? Hopefully Paul’s devotion to Jesus inspires our own. 

The Divine Stewardship of Paul’s Ministry

But next, not only do we read about the personal cost of Paul’s ministry, we also read about the divine stewardship of Paul’s ministry. In verse 25, Paul says, speaking of 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.”

So, according to Paul, God’s given him a “stewardship” for the church. In ancient times, those who were wealthy would often hire professional stewards to oversee and manage their estate. It’s also my understanding that many wealthy people today do this as well. That’s why you probably won’t see Jeff Bezos taking his car to the dealership for an oil change or even going to the bank to manage his own bank accounts. He has people who do that for him. He’s entrusted his possessions and property to the care of stewards who are responsible for managing them. And, of course, a critical component of a steward’s job is to manage what’s been entrusted to him according to the instructions of the owner. If a steward doesn’t do that, he probably won’t last very long.

Similarly, Paul states that he’s been given a “stewardship” for the church. This “stewardship” is the leadership role God’s entrusted to him. And according to Paul, the expectation of that role is that he’ll “make the word of God fully known.” That’s what God has appointed Paul to do. That’s the sacred charge he’s given to Paul as a steward—“to make the word of God fully known.” That encompasses both proclaiming the Word of God to those who aren’t yet Christians as well as teaching the Word of God to believers like those in Colossae.

So, just think to yourself, what “stewardship” has God given to you? What role has he given you in your family, the church, your workplace, and in various other contexts that he expects you to make good use of for the sake of the gospel? What abilities has he entrusted to you? What resources has he entrusted to you? And what other kinds of opportunities has God entrusted to you as a steward? Even if you think God hasn’t given you very much to steward, I can guarantee you he’s given you at least something.

I heard a story one time that I haven’t been able to verify but that nevertheless stuck with me as a great example of what it looks like to be faithful with the opportunities God’s entrusted to us. It involves an elderly woman in a developing nation who became a Christian and was ever so eager to serve Jesus in some way. However, she was seventy years old, blind, and lacked even a rudimentary education. However, she approached a missionary serving in her area with a Bible that she owned and asked the missionary to underline John 3:16 in red ink. So, the missionary did as requested and then watched as this woman took the Bible and sat down in front of a boys’ school.

And as the students were departing from the school for the day, this elderly woman called one of the boys over and asked him if he could read. When the boy said that he could, she asked him ever so nicely if he could please read to her the underlined verse. So, he did, and she then asked him, “Do you know what that means?” And she used that verse to tell the boy about Jesus. Not only that, she began doing this day after day and eventually year after year until it became virtually impossible to count how many boys heard the gospel and came to faith through this woman’s ministry.

Now, like I said, I haven’t confirmed the story, but what a great reminder of how there are ministry opportunities all around us if we’ll simply open our eyes and see them. So, what kind of steward will you be of the opportunities God’s given you?

The Central Message of Paul’s Ministry

Then, moving forward in our main passage, Paul describes the central message of his ministry in

verse 26 through the first part of verse 28. He’s just told us that God’s expectation for him as a steward is “to make the word of God fully known.” And Paul now elaborates on what exactly this “word of God” is. According to Paul, it is, ²⁶ the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. ²⁷ 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. ²⁸ Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom… 

So, Paul describes his message twice in these verses as a “mystery.” This is actually a word Paul uses in numerous places throughout his writings to refer to the message of the gospel that was once concealed during Old Testament times but is now revealed during New Testament times. Of course, the Old Testament contains many elements—or “types,” as they’re called—that foreshadow the coming Messiah as well as many prophecies that predict his coming. Yet the full glories the gospel simply weren’t known to those in the Old Testament. It’s not until Jesus comes that we come to know what Paul refers to here as “the riches of the glory of this mystery.”

Paul then identifies this “mystery” as “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” In the Old Testament, God dwelled in the midst of his people—and specifically in the innermost room of the temple known as the “Holy of Holies.” But in the New Testament and thereafter, God dwells not just in the midst of his people but within his people. Of course, the Spirit of God did come upon certain people for certain tasks in the Old Testament, but in the New Testament, he takes up permanent residence in his people. And when you think about it, that’s perhaps the most profound feature of the gospel—that the God of the universe actually dwells personally within the heart of each and every Christian.

Remember that the next time you feel alone or forgotten by God. He literally couldn’t be any closer to you than he already is. God’s presence within us is one of the clearest ways in which he expresses his love for us and the tender care he has for us. It’s also, as Paul points out, God’s way of assuring us of our glorious inheritance in the future. That’s what Paul means when he speaks of “Christ in you” as “the hope of glory.” Christ’s presence within us assures us that we’re one of his own and will therefore experience the glory of heaven one day.

Of course, the only way any of this is possible is through the atoning work of Jesus on the cross. As we’ve already touched on briefly today, Paul’s just reminded his readers back in verse 21 that we were once “alienated” from God because of our sin. Both the sinful nature we inherit as well as the actual sins we commit alienate us from the holy and righteous God of the Bible. They also make us deserving of his judgment in hell for all eternity.

However, instead of immediately bringing upon us the judgment our sins deserve, God looked upon our wretched condition and had mercy on us. He even sent his own Son Jesus to this earth to live a perfect life in our place and eventually die on the cross in our place as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Our sins were placed on his shoulders so that he suffered for them instead of us. Then, three days later, Jesus was raised from the dead and now invites everyone to put their trust in him and thereby receive the rescue he offers.

And as Paul says in verse 28, it is “Him we proclaim.” The message we who are Christians proclaim centers around Jesus. We don’t merely offer people a list of commands about things to do or avoid. We don’t merely offer people a set of moral values that should characterize our lives. We don’t merely offer people a formula for a better life. And don’t even merely offer a theological system or a set of propositional truth claims. Most fundamentally, we offer a person—the person of Jesus Christ. It is “Him we proclaim.” 

Listen: when we’re condemned in our sin and enslaved by our sinful desires, we need something far greater than a bunch of theological teachings and principles—we need a Savior. And even as Christians who frequently struggle both with sin and with suffering, we don’t just need helpful principles for living or encouraging cliches to help us think more positively or even abstract teachings drawn from the Bible. We need Jesus himself. Please, when I’m suffering, don’t just give me a collection of abstract teachings. Give me Jesus. Lead me to behold the glory and the grace and the tender love of Jesus himself. Jesus is the only one who can calm the anxious heart and strengthen the weary soul. So, it is “Him we proclaim.”

The Pastoral Goal of Paul’s Ministry

Then, moving forward in the passage, we see the pastoral goal of Paul’s ministry. In verse 28, Paul says that it is “Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.” The word translated “mature” is also translated “complete.” Paul’s goal was to present those to whom he ministered before God one day as Christians who had grown to the point of full and complete maturity. 

And we learn in Ephesians 4 that maturity is measured by conformity to Jesus. In Ephesians 4:12-13, Paul tells his readers that God’s given the church various leaders ¹² to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, ¹³ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Paul also says in Romans 8:29, that “those whom [God] foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.”

And in Galatians 4:19, Paul’s perplexed at how easily the Christians of Galatia are being led astray by false teachers and therefore refers to them as, “my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you!” Now, I’m not sure exactly how Paul knew what “the anguish of childbirth” felt like. I’m not sure I myself would venture to make such a comparison. Perhaps the Holy Spirit simply revealed to Paul what that was like. But I really appreciate the unmistakable clarity with which Paul communicates his passion for Christ to be formed within his readers. And that is the central goal of spiritual growth and the central mark of spiritual maturity. 

And one reason why I believe that’s so critical for us to take careful note of is that, unfortunately, there are a lot of things that many Christians think are key marks of spiritual maturity but that actually aren’t. For example, many Christians think that experiencing and practicing the so-called miraculous spiritual gifts are, in themselves, indications of spiritual maturity. They think you must be really mature if you practice those gifts. By contrast, other Christians, many of whom would probably frown on that first group of Christians, think Bible knowledge is the key indicator of spiritual maturity. Yet according to Paul, both of those groups of Christians are wrong.

Being a mature Christian isn’t about the impressive spiritual gifts you might have or the impressive amount of Bible knowledge you might possess. Instead, Paul says, the key mark of spiritual maturity is how Christlike you are. To what degree has “Christ” been “formed in you”? That’s the central goal we should be striving for—both in ourselves and in our ministry to others. And of course, I’m not in any way trying to dismiss the importance of Bible knowledge but am simply saying that Bible knowledge, properly understood, isn’t an end in itself but merely a means to an end—and that end is Christlikeness. 

And returning to the language of maturity Paul uses in our main passage[verse 28], that’s the goal of our church. We desire, as Paul says, “to present everyone mature in Christ.” This is why our church’s mission statement is what it is. As you can see each week on the front of your bulletin, our church’s mission is “to glorify God by helping people know Christ personally, grow in spiritual maturity, and become disciple-makers themselves.” Our goal isn’t to have a big church or a trendy church or an entertaining church or an exciting church. Instead, we want to be a faithful church—one that’s faithful to God’s call of presenting everyone mature in Christ. 

The Supernatural Empowerment for Paul’s Ministry 

And then, finally, we read in this passage about the supernatural empowerment for Paul’s ministry. Paul states in

verse 29, “For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.” The Greek word translated “toil” refers to laboring to the point of exhaustion. Likewise, the word translated “struggling” refers to someone competing in an athletic event and straining with all their might to win. The Greek word is ἀγωνίζομαι, from which we get our English word “agonize.” And that speaks of the intensity with which Paul lived out his ministerial calling. Paul exhausted himself in the work of ministry.

Yet he did this not with his own energy but with an energy God supplied. That’s why Paul says, “For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.” You might compare it to a young boy walking down the street to the convenience store with money from his parents. Although the boy is the one actually doing the spending, he’s spending money given to him by his parents. Likewise, Paul was toiling and struggling in the work of ministry, but he was doing so with the energy—or power—God provided.

And I don’t know of any other way to draw energy from God than through prayerful communion with God each day. A life of faithful ministry takes more than we have the spiritual capacity to give. It’s therefore only as we’re in daily communion with God through prayer and the study of his Word that we’ll have the energy we need to be faithful to God’s call. Jesus compares it in John 15 to a branch abiding in the vine. He says in John 15:4-5, ⁴ Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. ⁵ I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.