Colossians 1:23-24 - Suffering with Joy for the Gospel (Session 7)

 This episode is a verse-by-verse Bible study of Colossians 1:23–24, exploring the historical context, theological meaning, and faithful application of the passage within the Christian faith. 

Are you prepared to embark to the intersection of joyful suffering and redemption? Picture yourself immersed in an exploration of our human condition, our inherent darkness, and our seeming hostility toward God. But fear not, this isn't a tale of hopelessness. In fact, it's quite the contrary - we'll uncover the beautiful redemption offered by Jesus Christ, our beacon of light who rescues us from the darkness and welcomes us into his kingdom of light.

Finally, we turn to Paul - his teachings, his wisdom, his warnings. He provides a cautionary tale against false teachers and the dangers of straying from the scripture. His joys in suffering for the saints, his strength, his faith - these are the traits we should aspire to embody. In this episode, we’ll delve into the depth of these powerful messages and together, navigate the path of faith. Join us as we unwrap the layers of scripture, fortify our faith, and bask in the joy of redemption.

Transcript

Speaker 2 0:15

Hey, steve, have you ever looked forward to a joyful suffering?

Speaker 1 0:20

No, I do not look forward to suffering at all.

Speaker 2 0:24

I never really called suffering joyful, but today we're going to meet a man that does. The Apostle Paul talks about the joys of suffering, and it's because he has a greater cause. So that's what we're going to be talking about today, on Reasoning through the Bible. If you have your Bible, you may want to open it to the book of Colossians, starting in chapter one, because that's where we're going to be. We're working our way through one of the densest parts of the Word of God, which is the book of Colossians.

Speaker 2 0:52

As we mentioned last time, colossians was written to correct a false teaching that had crept into the Colossian church. There's a lot of teaching here around the truth and about salvation and making sure that the people of God knew what these rules were. So what I'd like to do to start off is to just summarize very quickly what we've covered so far, because we've already covered a tremendous amount of ground. In summary, what Colossians has said in maybe 10 or 11 verses is that humans start out in the kingdom of darkness, the domain of darkness, and we are unable to get ourselves out because we're in its power. We're not good, we're not neutral, we're evil, we are at war with God, we're hostile to God under God's wrath. Now, steve, I didn't make that up. A lot of people don't want to hear that message, but this isn't our theology. All we're doing is just reading the text. So the text says all those things that we're not good, we're evil, we're at war with God under God's wrath.

Speaker 1 2:07

Yeah, it's those words hostile, evil at war. Those are things that I believe people put up objections to, saying, look, I'm not a hostile person, I'm not an evil person. But when you put it in context of where they are and what their relationship with God is, it could be that it's that way, meaning that they have an earthly perspective, along with in comparison to other people in the world, versus their comparison of a relationship to God, and really they're not even thinking about it because they, in truth, they don't even have a relationship with God. But that's one of the things that we see whenever we become a Christian, whenever we become in Christ and a believer in the things that he has done, and we see just over and over again that all of the benefits that we have, he has done so so many tremendous things, and we're going to go through them one by one.

Speaker 2 3:05

And that was what was already mentioned to a certain extent in chapter one, again in 10 or 11 verses. It mentions not only all these things about humans, but it mentions a great number of things about the person of Jesus Christ, that his death and shedding of his blood pays the price for our sin. To redeem us and he delivers us out of, rescues us is what the text says out of the domain of darkness and brings us into the light. And he is the one who saves our souls and our redeems our souls. Our bodies are going to be redeemed later, but he is the one that the text uses. The word transfer us out of the domain of darkness into the light. Jesus qualifies us is the other term that it is qualifies us to be children of the king and receive a royal inheritance. So the bad news is that we were hostile towards God by saying that God was so irrelevant to not paying attention to him. That's being hostile. But Jesus comes in and rescues us out of that darkness and washes us off, redeems us, cleans us off and transfers us into the kingdom of light, gives us a royal inheritance. So that transfer, that contrast between the state of the lost person and the state of the saved person is one of the major themes and Colossians. The other major theme is the qualifications of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is again.

Speaker 2 4:39

All this is just so far in chapter one. Jesus is the image of God. He is the firstborn over all creation. He is the creator of the universe. He is the sustainer of the universe. He is the head of the church. He is the firstborn from the dead, the preeminent one, the fullness of God in his body. He is the reconciler of all things. He is the worthy one. That's what it's covered so far. These things establish the doctrine of the unique deity of Jesus Christ. Christ manifested and made God real to us. Paul is saying that Jesus cannot be some sort of created sub-God or demigod. Jesus is not God with a little G, he's not a mighty God, he is the almighty God.

Speaker 2 5:31

Further, colossians gives this dramatic description of the great movement to endosalvation. Again, we're moved out of the domain of darkness into the domain of light and he gives this long description. Again, this is a very dense section of scripture. He tells us our condition now that we're saved, people that are in Christ are qualified to share in the inheritance. We are rescued from the domain of darkness. We are transferred, we are redeemed, we're forgiven, we're reconciled, we now have peace. These are all things that it specifically says. We are not only qualified, but we are so qualified that he presents us before God as perfect and qualified. And not only that, but he says we are made holy, blameless and beyond reproach. Now, all of that is up to just chapter one, verse 22.

Speaker 1 6:30

We also saw that Jesus was the creator of all things, which was a little bit of a surprise, and that Paul brings that out. He's the creator of all things. Everything was made by him, through him and for him, and everything is also sustained by him, so that is another area that we also looked at over our last couple of sessions.

Speaker 2 6:52

And if we were to summarize all that, look at chapter one, verse 21 and 22. It says although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds that's the old way then verse 22,. Yet he has now reconciled you in his fleshly body through death in order to present you before him holy, blameless and beyond reproach. And I just find that to be so profound that he has gone to the trouble to take someone that is dirty with sin and clean us off and make us able to be presented before himself, to be listened, beyond reproach. And who are we to say otherwise? Who are we to say that I still have sin? Who are we to say that I'm not clean enough to go before God when he declared me clean?

Speaker 1 7:45

What do you show in that everything is done by him and we are the beneficiaries of that. However, we still have to place our faith in him in order to get that free gift from him.

Speaker 2 7:57

So here's a question. What we just looked at was we, as a natural state. We are hostile towards God, we're alienated. How is my question? How can he then make us blameless and beyond reproach? What is it about what the Lord Jesus did that can make us blameless and beyond reproach, able to receive a royal inheritance and be presented before him blameless? What did he do to make us that way?

Speaker 1 8:28

Well, he was that sacrifice, that satisfactory sacrifice, and through his blood on the cross he redeemed us. And we have that salvation by belief in him and belief of his death, burial and resurrection. And while the blood on the cross gave us that ability to be redeemed, it's actually his resurrection which sets him apart from everything else and gives us hope. Paul in other areas and other epistles, says if Christ had not been resurrected, then everything is lost, and we've been preaching everything that we're telling you in vain. So really, it's his resurrection that gives us our hope that we're going to have this glorified body, we're going to have all these promises that he has given to us and made us clean and everything else that you just talked about.

Speaker 2 9:19

See. What happens is that we look at ourselves and if we're honest with ourselves, we see sin still there. We have these arguments going on in our mind. How can I be presented before God when I know I still sin and I know you still sin and I know everybody around me still sin, but yet nevertheless he says right here he has made us wholly blameless and beyond reproach. How could that happen? Well, the way that happens is because of how we're saved.

Speaker 2 9:51

Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him, for. Righteousness is the cornerstone of our faith. Paul says that in Romans, chapter 4, and he also quotes it in Galatians 3-6. He goes all the way back to Abraham. Before Abraham obeyed or did anything, he believed God and it was counted as righteousness. Philippians 3-9 says that we do not approach God with our own righteousness, but we approach God with the righteousness which is through faith in Christ. As long as I'm looking at my righteousness, I come to these crazy doctrines that says I can't get into heaven. But as long as I'm looking to his righteousness through faith in him, then now God looks at me and he sees Christ's righteousness and that's my way into heaven. That's the message that he does. And here's the next question, steve how much of that process did I cause to happen?

Speaker 1 10:48

We didn't cause any of it to happen. He has caused everything to happen. He has done everything. He's created everything, sustains everything. He became the sacrifice himself. He has done everything. We do say that Abraham believed, and used that phrase. Abraham believed and it was counted into righteousness. That's why it's recorded. But what was it that he believed? He believed in the promises that God had given to him and it told him you're going to, you have this land. You're going to have a great nation is going to come from you, a seed's going to come from you. Those are the things Abraham believed, the promises that were before him. Same thing with us. What is it that we believe? We believe that Jesus Christ died, buried and resurrected and we have the promise of eternal life. We have the promise of a glorified body. That's what it is that we're believing. We're believing in the promises that have been laid out to us through Jesus Christ and by Jesus Christ. That's what we're putting our faith in.

Speaker 2 11:52

He did it all. He did it all. All we do is accept or reject the free gift. So, moving on to the next part, look at the end of verse 22 and into verse 23,. Present you before him holy and blameless and beyond reproach, if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you've heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven and of which I, paul, was made a minister. So what the text there says is that we're presented holy and blameless and beyond reproach if you continue in the faith. That brings up the question is okay, he's presented us there, but is it saying that my staying there is conditioned on my own good behavior? Can I get myself out because of my fallen sins that I commit? And I submit to you that the word if there does not mean a condition in the sense of a conditional clause. The Oxford English Dictionary says that the word if can be quote introducing a clause of condition or supposition, unquote. So what that means is that if can mean supposing that, if you look at it, look at again at verse 22,. If indeed you continue in the faith, it really means supposing that you continue in the faith, firmly in the faith, and it's not just my opinion.

Speaker 2 13:24

I can give you an example right out of Colossians that uses the exact same conditional if in a way that we know. It means supposing that. For example, if you look at chapter two, verse 12, it says having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with him through faith. So Colossians 2 12 says you were raised already through faith. So it says in 2 12, you're already raised through faith, but cross the reference just a few verses later. Same writer in the same book, chapter three, verse one. Or if you have been raised up with Christ, in 3 1, when he says if you've been raised up well, he just said a few sentences earlier that you are already raised up. So the word if can mean supposing that. That's what it means here. In chapter one, verse 23, when it says if indeed you continue, it's the same as at 3 1. It means because you are continuing, then therefore these happen, wouldn't you agree, steve?

Speaker 1 14:27

Yeah, and the second part of that is established instead fast, not moving away from the hope. So, yeah, it's not anything of. It's not talking about a faith of works. That's something that you have to continually do, because you didn't get into that area by anything that you did, and the act of faith itself is not a work. All of the salvation, that's what Paul is talking about. That's what we have been talking about in this introduction and in the other sessions.

Speaker 1 14:55

All the effort and all the work if we want to use that word is done by Christ. It's all on him. It doesn't bring out that we would, now that we have this faith, and express this faith in him. We're also told here that we have all of these attributes, all of these characteristics, and we have promises that are given to us, and it's all done on him. So it just doesn't make sense that now, all of a sudden, you turn around and Paul says but if you continue in your faith, that's the only way that you're going to get them. No, it was all done by him and it's all sustained by him as well, even in the faith and the promises that we have. So it has nothing to do with us in order for us to have that salvation. It was all done by him. It's same thing. It's nothing that we can do in order to get out of that salvation, once that it has been granted to us through Jesus Christ, through our belief and through our faith.

Speaker 2 15:56

Now, steve, you and I would both agree that the scriptures teach that once somebody is saved, they can't lose their salvation. There are well-meaning Christians that don't hold that. That would hold that there are sometimes where a Christian can move themselves out from under salvation and be lost again. Now, again, you and I would not teach that. The reason I bring that up is that again, look at the passage in verse 21 and 22. Even the people that believe you can lose your salvation Do not believe that it's our own efforts that would make us worthy to be considered blameless, which would be the logic of the sentence if you took it as a conditional. If, again, look at the end of verse 22, holy and blameless and beyond reproach if you continue in the faith. Even people that believe that my sin can get me out of fellowship with God, those people don't hold that it's my efforts that get me to be blameless in the first place, that nobody believes that it's my good works that get me right with God. I mean, that's that's the whole message of the scriptures is there's nothing I can do to make myself blameless. He's the one that declares me blameless. That's really what it's saying.

Speaker 2 17:14

Now, if we keep going here in question. Should Christians concern themselves with staying true to the path of following Christ? Because we just said this is a supposing that you continue in the faith. So let's, let's just take this down to shoe leather here, steve. Should we go through life saying I don't have to worry? Or should I say you know, I know what's in here and I know my nature. I need to be careful that I stay on the true path.

Speaker 1 17:44

And that one of the docs against the belief or doctrine of once saved, always saved, that people say, oh, that I don't have to worry because I'm saved and I can do anything I want.

Speaker 1 17:54

No Paul speaks about that as well in other areas of scripture that that doesn't give us a license just to go out and do anything we want to, just because this grace has been given to us through the act of faith.

Speaker 1 18:08

And then, when that happens, we are a changed person, we're a new creature and we no longer have those desires to do evil. We might still do things that are ungodly, but yet we now know that it's not what we're supposed to do and we should be concerned if we're not staying on that true path and going away from God. We need to raise a question to ourselves what am I doing? Why am I off of this path? What's going on? What is happening? And I believe and I think you do as well that once we have that assurance of salvation, because we've expressed that belief that we're going to have that, that tugging part that's going to say you need to get back on the right path, you need to be on the steadfast area, and I believe that's what Paul is talking about here staying in the faith and being steadfast and not being moved.

Christian Faith

Speaker 2 18:58

Yes, most definitely. All of us have seen people that were in churches professing faith in Christ, doing spiritual things, by all outward appearances showing a solid faith, but time goes on, years go by and then they stop going to church. They're not interested in spiritual things. All of us have seen that happen to people and it always left me scratching my head, regardless of whether they were saved in the first place or not. I think those people are an example to the rest of us that we need to not take this Christian life for granted and we need to do our best to stay pure to Lord Jesus Christ and examine our lives periodically and saying am I starting to stray? Because I think that's part of the message here is that we do need to examine our lives and make sure that we're following Christ and make sure that I haven't strayed or I haven't gotten lax or things like that. But moving on, look at verse 23. It says those who are in the gospel are firmly established and steadfast, not moved away from the gospel, and I love those words firmly established and steadfast, not moved away. The Christian faith is firmly established in the book of Colossians. That's what he's talking about. Is that people that are in the faith, are firmly established in the faith and they're not going to be moved. I love that.

Speaker 2 20:21

There's a great song called I Will Not Be Moved and I wish I could sing it. I'd sing it here. But when it says not moved away, here's a question. Should Christians be cautious that something or someone might cause me to move away? In other words, one danger is that I'll just get disinterested and fall away and go do secular things. Another one is that and this is what happened to the Colossians when he says not moved away, false teachers had come in and false teachers had drawn them away. Here's the next question is should I be worried, or all of us be worried, that, hey, I'm susceptible to a false teacher? And the reason I ask that is because false teachers don't wear a sign, you know. They don't wear a t-shirt that says, or a hat that says I'm a false teacher. No, they say God. Words that sound good, but if you look at it, it's false. Should all of us be a little bit cautious about, hey, whether I'm listening to a false teacher or not?

Speaker 1 21:23

We definitely should be cautious and we definitely should be leery of any teacher that comes along or pastor that is saying anything that's against the word, against scriptures. Now, how are you going to know if they're saying anything against scripture? Well, you've got to know scripture yourself, and I believe that that's one way that some people are going to be deceived and taken away by these false teachers, because they don't know what scripture says itself. That's one reason why Paul is writing to this church. He's hearing about these false teachers that are coming in and telling them things that do not line up with what all the apostles and Paul have been teaching and been talking about. So, therefore, paul is writing this letter to them, explaining to them what the actual doctrines are. Yes, we should be leery, we should be cautious, we should not take it for granted and we should also study the scripture so that we will not be deceived.

Speaker 2 22:29

That's what he's talking about here in verse 23. Look at verse 23,. If indeed you continue in the faith, firmly established, instead, fast and not moved away from the hope. He's talking about these false teachers that have come in, not losing your salvation. He's saying be careful, stay in the faith. You have to be real careful who you're listening to. And he said I was made a minister. So, in summary, what he's saying here is that we need to follow the faith that was given to us by the apostles, not some teacher in the church. We have to judge some teacher to see if he's following the apostle. Anybody along the chain in between the apostle Paul and me could have corrupted it. And Paul is saying be careful, I was made a minister, follow my doctrine and not that of some other teacher. Now, praise God, we've got some good teachers in our church and we've got some wonderful teachers over the centuries that are good, but we need to check all of them against the word of God.

Speaker 1 23:31

What you're really saying, Glenn, is, is that we have a responsibility. Paul is telling them that you have a responsibility to be steadfast and not be deceived and not be carried away through these philosophical arguments. So that responsibility on us to understand and know what the true word is.

Speaker 2 23:51

Now the last part of verse 23 talks about says that the gospel was proclaimed through all creation. And it also says that I, paul, was made a minister. So we can conclude two things from that. One is that the gospel within the lifetime of Paul was proclaimed in all creation. I think when he says all creation, that's what it means. The gospel went to all the world. And the other thing is notice, he was made a minister. He didn't make himself a minister, he was made a minister. The Lord made him one. How do we get our roles in the church? God gives us these roles, god makes us that. So next, steve, if you could read, start at verse 24 and read down through 29.

Speaker 1 24:34

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share, on behalf of his body which is in his, the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions of this church. I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God. That is the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations but has now been manifested to his saints, to whom God will to make known what is the riches of the glory, of his mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. We proclaim him admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man completed in Christ. For this purpose Also, I labor, striving according to his power which mightily works within me.

Speaker 2 25:26

So he says in verse 24, now I rejoice in my sufferings for you. I rejoice in my sufferings for you. So, steve, how can somebody rejoice in suffering?

Speaker 1 25:40

Well, there is that saying that says no pain, no gain that we've heard before and that's obviously talking about if you're training for something, you're going to experience pain as you get better. And I think that possibly Paul is saying look, there's sufferings that are going to come about because of what I'm doing, because I'm teaching things and I'm preaching things that the world doesn't like and that worldly religious leaders don't like either. There's sufferings that come along with that. That's the pain, but the gain is is that you become stronger in your faith, and that's the benefit and the beneficial things that I see out of that. So that's why Paul, I think, is saying, is that he rejoices in the sufferings that are going on.

Speaker 2 26:25

Now, lest anyone think that the sufferings of Paul were minor, read the list over in Corinthians, where he goes with this long list shipwrecked lashes, on and on and on. He suffered, and it was significant suffering. So here's, here's the next question. Steve, can good come from suffering?

Speaker 1 26:47

Yeah, I mean that's what he's saying here. He said that he is doing that because it builds them up, it gives them strength in their faith. You know, if we see leaders that are out there on the front line, so to speak, and they're out there taking the blows and I say that in a metaphorical way, not in a physical way but if they're out there on the front line leading us on, that emboldens us and gives us encouragement as Christians, the faithful Christians, to follow along. And I believe that's what Paul is doing and that he's out there on that leading edge and it does help it embolden the other faithful saints that are there in the area.

Speaker 2 27:29

I think there is some good things that can come from suffering, and I think you mentioned some of them. Think about this way there can be no bravery unless there's situations that require brave acts, and there can be no perseverance unless there's situations that require me to persevere through it, which is suffering. Look at Romans 5.3. Says quote tribulation produces perseverance, tribulation produces perseverance. How do we get perseverance? We have to have situations that require suffering and tribulation, and I submit that a world with bravery and perseverance is a better world than a world with no bravery and no perseverance.

Speaker 2 28:15

I mean, think of it, steve. What would happen if no one ever suffered anything? There's a whole host of good attributes that we wouldn't have. I mean, think of a child that never had to undergo some kind of be taught perseverance through a problem. They'd never be able to achieve great things, because just achieving great things takes perseverance. I mean, like you said, no pain, no gain. That's true with any great act you have to push through. If there were no suffering ever at all, ever, then that would mean there's no great wonderful acts ever.

Speaker 1 28:53

It would be a very sterile land, world, and I believe this also goes to the next part here that Paul is talking with when he says and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of his body. So it's in conjunction the things that he's going through, the sufferings that he's going through, he describes it as doing his share. So a question that we might want to ask our listeners and ourselves are are we doing our share of what we need to do in order to build up the body of Christ?

Speaker 2 29:24

And I find it interesting. That's a great question, because what he's saying there is that, ok, christ paid for our sins, but we have to go build up the body. Paul is also grateful to God even when he's suffering. Imagine that he is grateful to God even when he's suffering, and I just find that amazing. We, too, should be grateful that we get to go through circumstances that give us perseverance, because that means we're God's putting us in a position where we're doing something great Over and over again. There's some benefits that come out of suffering. Now, if you give me a choice, hey, would you rather suffer or not? And what do you think? I'm going to choose the easier path, but sometimes the easier path leads to not as good of a conclusion.

Speaker 1 30:11

We also need to keep in mind that it's not God or Christ that's making us suffer. It's the world. The world is what brings about the suffering. The world is against God and is against Christ. We are doing the suffering. Paul is doing the suffering from the world. That's where the suffering comes from, because he's out there preaching things and having things that the world doesn't like, and the same thing with us. We're still in the world. The world hasn't changed. We might have gotten a little bit more smarter from technology and had more finer things than what Paul had in his day, but the world is still the world and the world is still hostile towards God and Jesus Christ.

Examining Paul's Teachings in Depth

Speaker 2 30:55

Paul was suffering because he was standing up for righteousness. And if we stand up for righteousness, we will suffer too, because, exactly what you just said the world's not interested in righteousness, the world's not interested in godly things. And if we stand up for godly things and stand up for righteousness, then we're going to get some kind of persecution from the world. We should all look ourselves in the mirror and ask the question am I suffering at all because of living for Christ? And if the answer is no, then we should then ask ourselves am I standing up for righteousness and am I standing up for godly things, or am I trying to blend into the world? As long as you're trying to blend into the world, then they never feel guilt. But as soon as I say I'm not going to do those things, I'm going to try to live a righteous life, then the world doesn't like that. The world tries to persecute you.

Speaker 2 31:46

Probably a good place to pause for today, simply because of our time. But these are wonderful passages and there's still a lot of really great things to know here. Paul is right down in kind of shoe leather area here, in the same place with all the rest of us. Steve, this is really, really great study, and I trust that our audience will be back here next time as we reason through the Bible.

Speaker 1 32:11

Thank you so much for watching and listening. May God bless you.