Servant of the Gospel
Colossians 1:24-27
Who is Jesus Christ? Is Christ enough for salvation? How should our relationship with Him affect our daily lives? Paul’s letter to the Colossians answers these questions. Today, we pick up this letter at Colossians 1:24, where Paul describes his work as a servant of the gospel. He had just reminded the Colossian believers of Christ’s work of reconciliation accomplished through His death on the cross and revealed in the gospel (Col. 1:2-23). Now, Paul continues with the theme of the gospel and what it means for him to be a servant of the gospel.
Paul describes himself as a “servant” in Colossians 1:23 and 25 where the NKJV translates the word διάκονος (diakonos) as “minister”. This term refers to someone who serves or assists under the command of someone else, someone who performs mundane work such as waiting on tables or caring for household needs. Such service necessarily demands dependence, submission, and limits on personal time and freedom. Thus, a “minister” in the New Testament sense is not one who is over the church but one who labors under the church.
To an uninformed observer, Paul himself might appear insignificant. Remember that he is writing this letter to the Colossians while he is imprisoned in Rome. Paul has suffered over and over again in the cause of preaching the gospel of Christ. Listen to how Paul describes himself as a “minister” (diakonos) of Christ in 2 Corinthians 11:
23 Are they ministers of Christ?–I speak as a fool–I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. 24 From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; 26 in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; 27 in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness– 28 besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches. (2 Cor. 11:23-28).
A servant’s significance is not measured by the benefits he receives, the luxury he enjoys, or the prominence he obtains. No, a servant’s significance is directly related to the greatness of the one he serves and the importance the work entrusted to him. By this measure, a servant of the gospel is most significant because the one he serves is Christ Himself. And in Colossians 1:15-20, we have just seen the ultimate preeminence of Jesus Christ who Paul has written is the exact “image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15), the creator and sustainer of all things (Col. 1:16-17), the head of the church, firstborn from the dead (Col. 1:18), the one in whom all the fullness of God dwells (Col. 1:19), and the reconciler of all things by the blood of His cross (Col. 1:20).
What does it look like to be an effective minister of Christ, a servant of the gospel?
1. A Servant of the Gospel Suffers Joyfully (Col. 1:24)
Paul writes in Colossians 1:24, “I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church.” Paul is so committed to presenting God’s word he is willing to suffer for it. No sacrifice is too great for the gospel, and if anyone ever sacrificed for the gospel, it was the Apostle Paul. And notice he is not only willing to suffer, he rejoices in his sufferings for the gospel.
Do you know it’s a joy, a privilege, and a blessing to suffer for the cause of Christ? Paul was writing these very words when he was suffering in chains. While in prison, Paul was rejoicing. All of Paul’s prison epistles are characterized by joy. How could Paul rejoice in his suffering?
First, because his suffering was for the church. Paul tells the Colossians that his sufferings were “for you,” and they were “for the sake of His body, which is the church.” You might wonder how Paul suffered for the Colossians when he had never even met them. Paul is thinking of all the suffering he has endured to preach the gospel. If Paul had dodged the suffering, the Colossians would never have heard the gospel from Paul through Epaphras. Paul rejoiced and was glad to suffer whatever Christ called him to suffer for the benefit of those the Lord called to Himself—including the Colossian believers.
Second, Paul could rejoice in his sufferings because by them he shared in the afflictions of Christ. Paul writes, “I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ.” Let’s be clear. Paul is not suggesting by any means that Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross was lacking or insufficient. We just saw in Colossians 1:21-22 that Christ “has reconciled” you “in the body of His flesh through death.” Back in Colossians 1:20, Paul said that Jesus Christ reconciled all things “having made peace through the blood of His cross.” In Colossians 2 Paul will write that God “wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross” (Col. 2:14).
Jesus Himself proclaimed from the cross, “It is finished” (John 19:30). The atonement Christ bought for us on the cross was complete. Nothing can be added to it. In Colossians 2:10, Paul says, “you are complete in Him.” The whole Bible is clear that Christ’s sacrificial death was sufficient for our salvation. Paul writes to the Romans about Christ, “For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.” The writer of Hebrews repeats it three times that Christ died “once for all when He offered up Himself” (Heb. 7:27; 9:12; 10:10). We could contribute nothing to our Lord’s atoning sacrifice for us. So, this verse does not mean that somehow Christ’s suffering on the cross was insufficient for our salvation so that Paul or anyone else needed to complete it.
In what way does Paul then fill up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ? Paul is not speaking about suffering for sin here, but rather the inevitable suffering that accompanies those who preach the gospel to an unbelieving world, what Paul calls in Philippians “ the fellowship of His sufferings.” (Phi. 3:10) Although Jesus did all the suffering necessary to pay for sin, that did not mean there was no suffering left for those who follow Him. Jesus said, “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you,” (John 15:18), and “‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you,” (John 15:20).
If we are identified with Christ—and if Christ dwells in us—then we will suffer the trouble and persecution He suffered (2 Timothy 3:12). When you suffer for Christ, guess what that does? It drives you closer to Christ. And when you’re closer to Christ, you’re going to be more like Christ, and you’re going to suffer because of it. And when you suffer because of it, it drives you to Jesus. And when you are driven to Jesus, He changes your life, and you suffer more. And your suffering with joy is a testimony to an unsaved world that you belong to Christ.
Piper comments that “God intends for the afflictions of Christ to be presented to the world through the afflictions of his people. God really means for the body of Christ, the church, to experience some of the suffering he experienced so that when we offer the Christ of the cross to people, they see the Christ of the cross in us … The suffering love of Christ for sinners is seen in the suffering love of his people for sinners.”[i]
Romanian pastor and mission leader Joseph Tson said, “Christ’s cross was for propitiation; ours is for propagation.”[ii] This is, Christ suffered to accomplish salvation; we suffer to spread salvation. And our willingness to endure suffering for the good of others is a filling up of Christ’s afflictions because it extends them to others and makes them visible.
J. Oswald Sanders told the story of an indigenous missionary who walked barefoot from village to village preaching the gospel in India. His hardships were many. After a long day of many miles and much discouragement, he came to a certain village and tried to speak the gospel but was driven out of town and rejected. So, he went to the edge of the village, dejected, and lay down under a tree and slept from exhaustion.
When he awoke, people were hovering over him, and the whole town was gathered around to hear him speak. The head man of the village explained that they came to look him over while he was sleeping. When they saw his blistered feet, they concluded that he must be a holy man, and that they had been evil to reject him. They were sorry and wanted to hear the message that he was willing to suffer so much to bring them.
So, the evangelist filled up the afflictions of Jesus with his beautiful, blistered feet.[iii]
A servant of the gospel suffers joyfully. Then secondly,
2. A Servant of the Gospel Stewards Faithfully (Col. 1:25)
Speaking of the church, Paul writes in Colossians 1:25, “of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God.” The word “stewardship” literally means “house law”. A steward is one who cares for the interests or property of another. It speaks of a responsibility and a privilege. Paul was a servant of the gospel because he had been commissioned by God to steward or manage the household of God which is the church.
The content of Paul’s stewardship was God’s Word. Notice he says at the end of Colossians 1:25 that it was “to fulfill the word of God.” We find a similar idea in Acts 20 where Paul says to the Ephesians elders, “For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God.” (Acts 20:27).
I believe that my highest priority, as your pastor, is to be faithful to the the Word of God. I have been called to teach and preach the Word, to proclaim God’s Word—nothing more and nothing less. “To fulfil the Word of God” means that I must be faithful to preach it, and I must not compromise what I preach by taking away from it or misinterpreting it. Paul wrote to one young preacher in 2 Timothy 4:2, “Preach the word!” Then, he told him how to preach the Word: “Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.” Then, he told him why to preach the Word: “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.”
Paul knew that the Colossian church was in danger of attack by false teachers like that. So, he faithfully stewarded his commission to fulfill the Word of God.
Whether you are in this church or in any church, what you should do when you listen to someone preach is to ask yourself, “Is that true? Is that what the Bible really says? Is that what that text actually means? Is the preacher proclaiming the word of God or just his own opinions?” What we need is the whole Word of God. A servant of the gospel stewards the word of God faithfully.
Then thirdly,
3. A Servant of the Gospel Reveals Gloriously (Col. 1:26-27)
Paul writes about fulfilling the word of God, calling it, “the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints.” (Col. 1:26). It wasn’t just the beneficiaries of this great mystery that motivated Paul. It was the mystery itself. Now when you hear the word “mystery” in this context I don’t want you to think Agatha Christie or Sherlock Holmes. In using this word Paul means something more along the line of a secret. A mystery means something that was hidden and undiscoverable by human means. It is something secret that can only be known when God chooses to reveal it. Paul says it was “hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints.” Paul said something similar about the gospel in Ephesians 3, when he wrote “by revelation He made known to me the mystery.” (Eph. 3:3) It was something that God revealed.
What is the content of this mystery? Colossians 1:27 says, “To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” In Christ, God revealed what had not been fully disclosed in the Old Testament about His eternal plan. The Old Testament predicted salvation for the Gentiles. But God had to reveal the previously unknown truth that the Gentiles would be fellow-heirs with the Jews, one body in Christ with them.
When Paul says, “Christ in you” (Col. 1:27), he means, in this context, “Christ in you Gentiles.” For Paul, this was a glorious truth, but I fear that we don’t appreciate it as much as we should. Before the cross of Christ which opened the gospel to both Jews and Gentiles on equal standing, Gentiles were at best second-class citizens in the kingdom. Gentiles could become proselytes to Judaism, but they could only enter into the court of the women and Gentiles in the Temple. They could not go into the inner court where the Jewish men went. There was a waist-high wall of partition which separated them. Before his conversion Paul was at the forefront of perpetuating this discrimination.
But once he was saved, God revealed to him that the Gentiles are fellow-heirs of the gospel with the Jews. The wall of partition is removed in Christ (Eph. 2:14). As he writes in Colossians 3:11, in Christ “there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.” Christ is in every believer, and every believer is in Christ! In Colossians 1:19 we saw that all the fullness of God dwells within Jesus. And now we learn that Jesus dwells within the believer. And so, we move from God in Christ to Christ in you. Christ is God, and Christ dwells in you through the Holy Spirit. Nothing can compare with that.
Christ in you is the hope of glory. If Christ is within you, then you can be assured of your future resurrection to glory. As we read Romans 8: “10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” (Romans 8:10-11).
To the level that this same mystery grips hold of our hearts—that “Christ in you” truly is “the hope of glory”, then to that same level we’ll also be moved to action as the apostle Paul was. We need to sink our teeth into this great mystery. We need to pray and ask God to help us take it to heart. We need to study the Scriptures diligently so that we can understand the significance of it better. We need to grow in an ever-increasing fellowship with the Christ who this mystery says indwells us through His Spirit. We need to grow in our rejoicing and thankfulness for the hope of glory that His indwelling guarantees to us.
To the degree we do, we will—like Paul—be motivated to suffer for it, serve in it, and proclaim it to others.[iv]
Michael Card relates the story of Joseph, a Masai warrior who attended the Itinerant Evangelists’ Conference in Amsterdam sponsored by the Billy Graham Association:
One day Joseph, who was walking along one of these hot, dirty African roads, met someone who shared the gospel of Jesus Christ with him. Then and there he accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior. The power of the Spirit began transforming his life; he was filled with such excitement and joy that the first thing he wanted to do was return to his own village and share that same Good News with the members of his local tribe.
Joseph began going from door-to-door, telling everyone he met about the cross [suffering!] of Jesus and the salvation it offered, expecting to see their faces light up the way his had. To his amazement the villagers not only didn’t care, they became violent. The men of the village seized him and held him to the ground while the women beat him with strands of barbed wire. He was dragged from the village and left to die alone in the bush.
Joseph somehow managed to crawl to a water hole, and there, after days of passing in and out of consciousness, he found the strength to get up. He wondered about the hostile reception he had received from people he had known all his life. He decided he must have left something out or told the story of Jesus incorrectly. After rehearsing the message he had first heard, he decided to go back and share his faith once more.
Joseph limped into the circle of huts and began to proclaim Jesus. “He died for you, so that you might find forgiveness and come to know the living God” he pleaded. Again he was grabbed by the men of the village and held while the women beat him reopening wounds that had just begun to heal. Once more they dragged him unconscious from the village and left him to die.
To have survived the first beating was truly remarkable. To live through the second was a miracle. Again, days later, Joseph awoke in the wilderness, bruised, scarred — and determined to go back.
He returned to the small village and this time, they attacked him before he had a chance to open his mouth. As they flogged him for the third and probably the last time, he again spoke to them of Jesus Christ, the Lord. Before he passed out, the last thing he saw was that the women who were beating him began to weep.
This time he awoke in his own bed. The ones who had so severely beaten him were now trying to save his life and nurse him back to health. The entire village had come to Christ.
This is what a servant of the gospel looks like. You may not be called upon to suffer so greatly as this man named Joseph, but maybe you should ask yourself, “Am I rejoicing in suffering?” “Does my life proclaim the glory of Christ in me?” “Is my hope in the glory of Christ rather than the comforts of earth?”
[i] John Piper, https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/to-finish-the-aim-of-christs-afflictions.
[ii] Quoted by Piper, ibid.
[iii] Story repeated by Piper, ibid.
[iv] Greg Allen, For the Love of the Mystery, https://bethanybible.net/index.php/2013/02/20/for-the-love-of-the-mystery-colossians-124-27/
