Colossians 1:23-2:6 True Christianity

Colossians 1:23-2:6

Picture a small room with stone walls and a small window. The room is quite sparsely furnished: there is a bed, a bookshelf with many scrolls on it a chair, and a small desk. The window has bars in it, like a prison cell. There is a man sitting on the chair, speaking to a scribe, seated on the floor. He is dictating a letter, which the scribe is writing down.
There is a third person in the room: a Roman solider. He is holding the end of a chain, a chain which links up to the hands and feet of the man who is speaking. He is a prisoner, under guard 24 hours a day.
And this is what the man is saying “I am glad when I suffer for you in my body, for I am participating in the sufferings of Christ that continue for his body, the church”

What does it mean to be a Christian?

What does it mean to say “I follow Christ”?

That is what we will be thinking about today.

We’ve had a magnificent opening chapter, focussing us on Christ. He is supreme over everything. He is our head, our master, our leader and our guide. He holds all things together. He gives us every breath. He is our destiny, our wisdom, our all in all, our very life. He is Lord of all, God Almighty, the physical visible image of the invisible God.
And by his grace he looked down on us and had mercy on us. He became fully human, the first true man (since Adam messed that one up!), and in his own body reconciled us to God. By his blood on the cross we who were far away from God are now drawn near.

This is what we have been given by God, and our response is to love God’s people, living changed lives, bearing fruit everywhere. We know and understand the gospel, and in knowing and understanding our lives change: we are filled with love for each other, and for the lost. We have endurance and patience. We are filled with joy and thanksgiving. That’s chapter 1.

Today we will see that we are willing to suffer anything for the sake of the gospel, because of the glory we share with we share with Christ. And that suffering for Christ is easy, because he lives in us.

1. Suffering for Christ

This is a strange passage. Paul suddenly starts talking about his suffering – probably as a contrast to the false teachers with their “secret knowledge” who didn’t really care about the Colossians and would never suffer for them – their goal was comfort (just like many “Apostles” and “Pastors” today, particularly on TV). But it’s also a challenging passage, because it strikes right at that false religion we can so easily take on – we can so easily play the part of a Christian without ever being one. A Christian is one who follows Christ to death - and Paul’s example exposes us.

23 But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News. The Good News has been preached all over the world, and I, Paul, have been appointed as God’s servant to proclaim it. 24 I am glad when I suffer for you in my body, for I am participating in the sufferings of Christ that continue for his body, the church. 25 God has given me the responsibility of serving his church by proclaiming his entire message to you.

Paul is in jail, in chains, for nothing other than preaching the gospel. He has been beaten, shipwrecked, jailed, flogged, and stoned to death (but then he got up again and went into the city to keep preaching!) – this guy will let nothing stop him from proclaiming the message of Jesus. Paul is like the Terminator of preachers. Unstoppable!

And about all this suffering he says: “I am glad”. The word is chairo (khah-ee-ro) and means “to rejoice, be glad. to rejoice exceedingly. to be well, thrive”

Is Paul crazy?

Well, we think so. Our culture cannot stand suffering. In Tim Keller’s latest book “Walking with God through pain and suffering” he makes the point that many others have made: throughout history, our materialistic western society is the worst at dealing with suffering. Only our culture is so negative towards suffering. How can this possibly be good, we say?

How about developing character? How about the nobility of sacrifice? How about the discipline of patience? How about the legacy we leave, how people will speak of us after we are gone? How about the spiritual treasures we store up as we suffer in this world? Those are some of the many positive ways other cultures value suffering. But not ours. Ours sees suffering as only negative.

Why? Because our culture is driven by materialism, by enjoying the here and now, defeated by a short-term view that this life is all there is. If this is all we’ve got, then it better be good. If this is all we’ve got, then what’s the point in investing in character development, or in delaying getting what we want? Give to me now!
I want it all, I want it all, I want it all, and I want it NOW! (Queen)

That is why suffering destroys us, defeats us. That is why so many turn from the gospel because they know they will be called to give up the things they want, to set aside their own desires. They are afraid of the potential suffering – and so they turn aside in fear.

But listen to Paul: “29 That’s why I work and struggle so hard, depending on Christ’s mighty power that works within me. 2:1 I want you to know how much I have agonized for you and for the church at Laodicea, and for many other believers who have never met me personally.”

He is glad to suffer. He works and struggles beyond his own ability, needing the power of Christ to sustain him. He agonizes over the church. Have you ever wrestled in prayer to the point of pain?

Now, if you’ve been paying attention in Bible study, you might be saying “well, that’s Paul. You know, Jesus said to him that he would suffer much for the sake of His name, and he did: Acts 9:15–16 [T]he Lord said, “[Paul] is my chosen instrument to take my message to the Gentiles and to kings, as well as to the people of Israel. And I will show him how much he must suffer for my name’s sake.”

And you know what, you’re right. We’re not Paul. And this passage doesn’t say “be like Paul”. Our job is not to gladly suffer for the church – that’s Paul’s job. His responsibility, as it says in v25. Our job is to not drift away from the truth (v23), and 2:6 , just as we accepted Christ Jesus as our Lord, we must continue to follow him.

Shoo, dodged that one!

But have we?

Paul certainly was called to a special mission. None of us has met the risen Jesus and been specially commissioned as an Apostle to the Gentiles! But, we are all called to follow Christ. And what was it that he said to us about following him? Remember what he said back in Mark 8:34–35 Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. 35 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it.

Take up your cross. Give up your life. This is the language of suffering. And this isn’t advanced super-apostle Christianity. This is basic Christianity. If any of you wants to be my follower.
This is the bare minimum.

That’s why the people we know who are trying to dodge Christianity, ducking and diving and trying to avoid you when you invite them to church, or talk about Jesus, or just are their friends – they’re right. They know the cost. And the cost is everything.

What was it we read about in chapter 1 was the effect of the gospel? 1:6 changed lives.
Our lives are not our own. We have been purchased. We are under new ownership. We have a new master. His dreams are now our dreams. His goals are our goals. His life is now our life. Christ is our life.

That is why Paul says “I am glad when I suffer for you” because he is pleasing his Master, Christ. He is following in the footsteps of the suffering servant, our Servant King. And he does not care about the cost, because he has his eyes fixed on the prize, the glory that awaits him in the new creation

I find this immensely challenging. I have struggled with preparing this sermon, because any preacher must first preach to himself – and I can feel myself resisting. I am still resisting. I can hear all sorts of excuses bubbling up within me. I need to hear this message again and again. Because to say no to suffering is to say no to following Christ. If I am not willing to suffer for Christ – then Jesus says that I am not a Christian. If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me.

Now suffering doesn’t mean throwing ourselves into a bed of nails, or walking through fire, or whipping ourselves. It is the daily suffering of putting to death our sinful nature and obeying the word of Christ. It is caring about the lost instead of closing ourselves off into a not-so-holy huddle. It is speaking about our love for Jesus where we will get laughed at or shunned. It is risking our reputation by standing for the truth. It is inviting people to read the Uncover with us. It is loving our wives and children instead of hiding in our work. It is treasuring and honouring our parents. It is working hard when we are at work instead of slacking off and putting in a minimal effort. It is being good citizens, good neighbours. It is treasuring our church family, praying for each other, serving each other, encouraging each other by coming on Sundays and Wednesdays, inviting each other around for meals, phoning up and saying “keep following the Lord, keep your eyes on him”. In short, it is living for the glory of God, in everything we do and say. It is loving God, and loving others.

Paul unpacks this in chapter 3, how we are supposed to be living. Put to death the sinful life, and live the new life you have been given.

And there again you see this language of suffering “put to death”. If anyone told you the Christian life was easy, they were lying. It is a battle to the death against your sin. Every day, we pick up our cross and walk towards Golgotha, the place where Christ was crucified, and say I die to myself, I live for Christ. He is my life, my everything. It is the picture of the bloodied soldier standing firm. And so we can with gritted teeth and manly determination we can echo Paul and say “I am glad when I suffer for the sake of Christ”

We must suffer for Christ.

2. The Christian life is easy

Haha. But you know what: it’s true. It is true. The Christian life is hard, a battle to the death. But the Christian life is easy, because that battle has already been fought and won. 2:25 [Christ] disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.

We see this paradox in v29: That’s why I work and struggle so hard, depending on Christ’s mighty power that works within me

My brother in law, Grant, always says “Work your guts out, and God will do it all”. And it’s true, isn’t it. We struggle and strive and battle – and when we look back we see how God carried us.

This church is a great example. At one level we’re battling along, putting in the hours of preparation, wrestling with the Scriptures, battling in prayer, talking, encouraging, evangelising, counselling – and all along the Holy Spirit is at work amongst us, walking us to new life, carrying us in his strength, forging this church out of nothing, It is is a miracle We are a miracle. And so through all the effort the overwhelming feeling I have of this church is of a spectator – an audience member watching the film of God’s grace at work in your lives and my life. That’s why I work and struggle so hard, depending on Christ’s mighty power that works within me

Just look at the “great mystery” of the gospel: 26 This message was kept secret for centuries and generations past, but now it has been revealed to God’s people. 27 For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory.

The ESV puts it like this: this mystery.. is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

It is that inward, subjective experience of knowing Christ. It is a personal relationship with the living God. That is the mystery, that he should indwell us (live in us). How bizarre. But how true.

That is why Colossians is so full of language like 2:7 let your roots go down into him and let your lives be built on him, 2:17 Christ is the reality of our religious experience, 3:4 when Christ, who is your life, appears, 3:10 put on your new nature (we are changed, new people, little Christ-ones running about) and that we are his body (1:18, 2:19, 3:15).

Christ in you, the hope of glory.

In the parallel passage in Ephesians 1, Paul puts it like this: 3 And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. 14 The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.

It is the Spirit of Christ, God’s Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Trinity: he is the one who so powerfully works in us so that we can live changed lives in glory and honour to God, and can gladly suffer anything because we have assurance of the glory that lies before us, and because we are sharing in the sufferings of our Saviour.

He is so bound to us and we so bound to Him that Paul can say 24 I am glad when I suffer for you in my body, for I am participating in the sufferings of Christ that continue for his body, the church. As we suffer for the spread of the gospel, as we battle our sin, as we proclaim the Good News of Christ crucified and victoriously risen from the dead – we follow in his footsteps, we follow his pain and his victory on the Cross, continuing his work in the world. He is in us, continuing his work. We’ve seen that in the book of Acts, how the Holy Spirit is at work building his church, we’ve experienced in this church, how he is changing us, binding us together, saving us; and we’ve experienced him in our lives as He has 1:13–14 rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, 14 who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.

He is in us. His power is at work in us. And so living the Christian life is…easy. Oh battling sin seems so hard doesn’t it. We’re called to give up something we hold so dear, or not do or say something we so want to do and aaargh it’s so hard – but the moment we let go, the moment we obey, oh what bliss, what joy, what freedom. Why did I ever want that? What a nothing compared to the joy of Christ!

And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory. 28 So we tell others about Christ, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all the wisdom God has given us. We want to present them to God, perfect in their relationship to Christ. 29 That’s why I work and struggle so hard, depending on Christ’s mighty power that works within me.

The Christian life is easy, because He is at work in us. So let us tell others about Christ, warning and teaching with his wisdom. Let’s get out there and do it! Amen?

We are called to follow Christ, no matter the cost. And we cannot say no to suffering, because to say no to suffering is to say no to the gospel. It’s saying no to character development, to legacy, to endurance, to patience, to spiritual treasures. But worst of all, saying no to suffering is saying no to gospel, saying no to Christ.

And we are all tempted, because our western materialistic society is so negative towards suffering – “suffering is only, always, evil”, it says – and so we are tempted to lay aside the cross, turn our back on Golgotha, turn away from our Saviour, and take the easy road to Hell.

Brothers and sisters, let us turn back to Christ, pick up the cross, and follow him. And as we do that we will find the steps are easy, the burden is light, the road is pure joy for the glory laid before us – for Christ is in you, the assurance of glory. He is before us, Let us follow him.