The Death that brings Life

For what reason did the Son of God come to live as a man? That is the question.

You can listen to this sermon here.

The Death that Brings Life, Luke 9:18-27

Isaiah 53:12 Therefore I will give Him the many as a portion, and He will receive the mighty as spoil, because He submitted Himself to death, and was counted among the rebels; yet He bore the sin of many and interceded for the rebels.

This passage covers a lot of territory, from the identity of Christ, to the reason He had to come, the cost of being a disciple, and the promise of being in the kingdom.

I. The Question; vs 18-21. Jesus often pulled away from crowds for prayer and to teach His disciples. Luke 11:1, 22:39-41, and Matt 26:36 show various scenes and reasons for the Lord teaching His disciples privately. We see in this passage the reason for this privacy, in addition to the question asked and the answers given. Last week we heard how Jesus pulled His disciples away to teach them privately but the crowds saw them and pursued. Today, He takes His disciples away to teach them - and they are alone.

Those closest to Jesus needed the Holy Spirit to comprehend the true nature of Jesus. The crowds thought Him to be just another man - John or Elijah or another prophet. Those of the world cannot rightly see the Lamb of God, so they have endless alternatives that their natural minds can accept. Recall Herod's perspective, upon hearing of the miracles attending the teaching of the twelve - read Mark 6:14-16. Natural man, Paul wrote, suppresses his knowledge of the truth by his unrighteousness (Romans 1:18-19). This is why those who are told or shown the truth about Jesus say that He was a prophet or a good man - anyone but the God-man. And hence Paul also wrote, "No one can say "Jesus is LORD" except by the Holy Spirit." People can say those words, but that no more means they believe in Him than does merely tacking on the name of Jesus on a prayer that has no basis in Scripture gain the ear of God. We pray in His name by praying that which is honorable in His sight. We say "Jesus is LORD" by the Spirit when we believe on Him; our lives will reflect the life of the One who gave Himself for us.

The title, "the Christ of God," highlights the relationship between Jesus and His Father (Matt 16:16). In Luke 2:11 Jesus is declared the Messiah. Peter's confession asserts Jesus to be the Messiah, from the line of David. Contrary to David's kingdom in Palestine, the kingdom of Jesus is not of this world.

Jesus commands them not to tell anyone who He is. This was the reason for the privacy - it was not time for Him to known publically. Just as he told the lepers in Mark 1 not to tell anyone they had been healed. Although those healed often disobeyed and told everyone what Jesus had done, He was sticking to a time table set by His Father that no man could derail. See John 2:1-4, John 7:6, John 7:30.

Jesus did not want people focusing on the miracles He performed, but rather the message He proclaimed and the death He was going to die. The same is true today. God would rather that we be focused on the healing miracle of salvation through Jesus Christ instead of focusing on physical healings and/or miracles. When you see people on TBN or DayStar focusing on "miracles" rather than the glory of God, they are guilty of a false gospel, revealing themselves to be enemies of the cross. Natural man wants health and wealth and fame. When these are promised, in the guise of being what God wants for us, natural man is given what his sinful heart wants and Osteen, Jakes, Hinn, and the like get rich. Yet their flesh fails and they cannot heal themselves of poor eyesight not can they take their ill-gotten gain with them to the grave.

The greatest need of all of Adam's children is to be given new life in the Christ of God and this comes only by the Spirit of God.

II. The Mission; vs 22 (this is THE point of the message). The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. This is the reason the Son of God came to earth in the flesh: to suffer many things, to be rejected by His own people, to be put to death, to be raised up in glory. All who have faith in Him will enjoy the purity and joy of eternal life without temptation or sin.

How did He suffer? He was humiliated in taking on human flesh (Phil 2:6-8). The Creator learned obedience from His human parents (Heb 5:8-9). He was betrayed by Judas (Luke 22:48). He was taken captive (Matthew 26:50). He was deserted by His disciples (Matthew 26:56). He was falsely accused by those in the crowd, His kinsmen of the flesh (Matthew 26:60). He was spat upon and beat up (Matthew 26:67-68). He was falsely accused by whom He had put in positions of authority (Matthew 27:12). He was scourged and crucified (Matthew 27:26). He was mocked by the Roman soldiers (Matthew 27:29-30). He suffered many things.

He was rejected by the elders and chief priests (Read Matthew 26:3-5). He was rejected by own people, who demanded Barabbas be released (Read Matthew 27:21-22).

Jesus was crucified. We reviewed this method of killing prior to Easter. It was the most painful, gruesome form of death every contrived by man. Prior to being nailed to the cross, He was scourged with a whip that had bits of bone and iron balls that were effective at stripping the flesh from the bones. This scourging and the crucifixion were public, in full view of the throngs of people who had come to Jerusalem for the annual Passover. Countless saw Him beaten and lifted up to die. Roman soldiers guarded the tomb in which He was laid. His disciples were discouraged and fled in dismay. The light of the world lay physically dead in the earth. It appeared all hope was lost.

But He had told them on many occasions that He would be put to death AND be raised up on the third day. For this cause the Son of Man came - to give Himself a ransom for many. Without the resurrection, we have no gospel - no hope for fallen man. But Jesus DID rise up and come forth from the tomb in glory! For this cause, He came.

III. The Cost; vs 23-26. The point of these statements is to put to silence those who preach comfort and ease for the Christian; to expose the lie of being aligned with the world while claiming allegiance t Christ; to contrast the lie of the world with the truth of God. Let’s look to see what light our Lord sheds on this, by His example. In John 2, Jesus is at the wedding in Cana and the wine had been consumed. In verse 3, Mary tells Jesus “They have no wine.” We do not know what she was thinking – was Jesus supposed to go and buy some wine or did she know He could create it? His reply provides insight: John 2:4 And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” As a child, Jesus was subject to His earthly parents, ye when He was twelve years old He let them know there was a higher calling on His life – He must be about His Father’s business. As an adult, at this wedding, Jesus does not refer to Mary with any term of endearment – He simply calls her “woman” (which was NOT a term of disrespect) and asks why is she bothering Him; making clear she does not have parental oversight in this matter. In a later scene, Matthew 12:46-50 While he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him. But he replied to the man who told him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers!  For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

Clearly, in each of these three scenes, the Lord has been showing His earthly family that there is a higher calling – the kingdom of God and those who belong to it are more important than earthly family, no matter how close.

Read James 4:4, Matt 10:34-38. In another place, Jesus told a young man to leave the dead to bury their dead, when he had objected to the call to follow Christ. Nothing in this world can compare to the glory of being united to Christ, reconciled to God.

Brothers and sisters: Service to God and to one another is the highest priority and privilege anyone can have! Read 1 Cor 12:12-27. This body language - we each have gifts given us to serve one another as it pleased God. We belong to one another, bought at a price - belonging to Christ!

Our text reminds us of the higher calling, contrasting the lure of that which cannot satisfy with the sure promise of that which cannot fail to satisfy. The cost of discipleship is high, but only in terms of that which perishes.

IV. The Promise; vs 27. There are quite a few differing opinions as to the meaning of this verse. Some people think this means the second advent has already taken place, because He had to return before those being spoken to died. Full preterists think this and claim Jesus' second advent was in AD 70 when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans.  

Spurgeon couldn't accept that view and he concluded Jesus meant Judas would not be cast into eternal punishment before the second advent. That is when the second death will claim those who believe not on the Lord Jesus. Does that single son of perdition align with Jesus' statement, "There are some standing here?" He would have likely said, "There is one standing here." He had no trouble mentioning "one" who betrayed Him - He didn't say "some."

Spurgeon also pointed out the difficulty in the view that Jesus was speaking of His ascension. That glorious event was only 6 days away when Jesus spoke these words. We know every day is a gift from God, but it strains reason to think Jesus was speaking about an event 6 days away when He said, "There are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God."

Considering the last phrase, those people would see the kingdom of God, ought to give a clue. In John 3, while speaking to Nicodemus, Jesus said one must be born from above in order to see the kingdom of God (John 3:3). This rules Judas out - no serious student of Scripture thinks he was born by the Spirit into eternal life.

Many commentaries see this statement of Jesus referring to the establishment and growth of the New Covenant body of believers that took place during the lives of the apostles and continues to this day, pointing to the promised return of our Savior.

Matthew Poole summed it up like this: "But the most generally received opinion, and which seems best, is, that the coming of the Son of man here meant is, his resurrection from the dead. His ascension into heaven, and sending the Holy Spirit, after which the kingdom of grace came with a mighty power, subduing all nations to the Lord Jesus Christ. He was declared, (or determined), to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, Romans 1:4. And when, after his resurrection from the dead, they asked him, Acts 1:6, whether he would at that time restore the kingdom to Israel, he puts them off, and tells them for an answer, Acts 1:8, But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth. And then, Acts 1:9, he in their sight ascended up into heaven. Then did the kingdom of the Son of man come with power, Acts 2:33-36, they knowing assuredly that the Son of man, whom the Jews had crucified, was made both Lord and Christ, as Acts 2:36, and, as Acts 2:34,35, set at God’s right hand, (according to the prophecy of David, Psalm 90:1), until his enemies should be made his footstool."

The kingdom was inaugurated with a display of the power and glory of God when He ascended and when the Spirit ignited the body of Christ and spread the gospel to those who had walked in darkness. The kingdom is now, Christ rules over all powers and dominions - He declared this when He gave the Great Commission: Read Matt 28:18-20. This is the kingdom: Christ in glory, His Spirit equipping and guiding His people to spread His gospel to the ends of the earth.

V. Application

a.) People today are just as curious and apathetic about who Jesus is as were the first century Jews. Some consider Jesus to have been a wise teacher, but not divine. Others think Him the things of mythology. Do you know the answer to the question - who is Jesus? Can you answer those who may ask you? If you are in Christ, you have the Spirit within - the same Spirit that revealed the answer to Peter so long ago. Be sure you know Him - and can tell others: Jesus is the Christ of God.

b.) Knowing the identity of Jesus hinges upon knowing why He came. If sin was not the problem, Jesus would not have had to suffer at the hands of men on our account nor would He have had to drink the cup of wrath to reconcile us to God the Father. And if we do not KNOW, deep down in our soul, that Christ Jesus was raised from the dead, then what hope of eternal life can we have?

c.) There is a cost to follow the Lord Jesus. The world and our flesh will pull at us, men who know not the Christ will ridicule us, those with a false gospel will argue for the works of man for salvation. Are you willing to be known as His in the workplace, in school, with your neighbors? I've known people at work who thought their faith had to be kept a secret. When Jesus said we should not be ashamed of His words, He is basically telling us to be public with our profession and walk. Those who fear man more than God will be ashamed of His words; those who are indwelt by the Spirit will not fear man. J.C. Ryle said, “It costs something to be a true Christian. It will cost us our sins, our self-righteousness, our ease, and our worldliness.” Those who are at ease with their sin need to examine themselves. Peace with sin means no peace with God. Peace with God means no peace with sin.

d.) While the context of our passage makes it clear that Jesus was talking about the first death, physical death, the promise to us has to do with the second death. This is the sure promise of God for those who are in Christ: having been given eternal life we are guaranteed that the second death has no grip on us.

When Jesus died, death for all who are in Him was defeated. John Owen, a man of many words, wrote a 426 page book titled, The Death of Death in the Death of Christ. His point was to demonstrate that for all who are in Christ, the second death has no hold. Some men teach that Christ died for everyone, yet the benefit for those who are doomed to damnation is nowhere to be found; they are still dead in sin. The death of Christ gives life to those who were dead. This is what it means to see Jesus as the Christ of God. He had authority to lay down His life and to pick it back up again. And He gives life to that which was dead, reconciling wretched sinners to holy God.

And what wondrous love is this?

Though I raised my clenched fist,

He opened up my hand to received His gift

And what wondrous love is here?

That God Immortal has drawn near,

And shed His blood to close the rift.

If you are His, He has drawn you close and commanded you, as you go, to make disciples, teaching those who believe all He has commanded. If you are not His, while it is yet today, cry out to Him for faith and repentance. Oh how dreadful, when the great fountains of God’s wrath shall be broken up and all His bitter vials poured out! Today is the day - if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart as they did in the days of the wilderness. Jesus saves sinners - turn to Him, look to Him and be saved!

Colossians 2:6 -15 Head over every ruler and authority

Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, overflowing with gratitude. Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition, based on the elemental forces of the world, and not based on Christ. For the entire fullness of God’s nature dwells bodily in Christ, and you have been filled by Him, who is the head over every ruler and authority. You were also circumcised in Him with a circumcision not done with hands, by putting off the body of flesh, in the circumcision of the Messiah. Having been buried with Him in baptism, you were also raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And when you were dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive with Him and forgave us all our trespasses. He erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it out of the way by nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and disgraced them publicly; He triumphed over them by Him.

The major theme coursing through this letter is the supremacy of Christ and His provision for His people. The opening phrase in this passage recognizes Christ as Lord. Contrary to the view of many professing Christians, no man makes Jesus Lord - He IS! When Paul was speaking to the talk show crowd of his day, he didn't tell them of an entity that wanted to be their Lord; he declared God as Lord. He told them, Acts 17:23-25 What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. The God Who is, does not depend on His creatures to bestow or admit that He is Lord, He is. This word, Lord, conveys the idea of supreme authority and power. And we who have believed on Christ Jesus have received Him, the Lord of heaven and earth.

As with so many epistles, we are told here to walk in Christ - that is to keep our mind fixed on His truths and live as people who have been changed, raised from spiritual death by the same power that raised Christ from the grave! We cannot walk in the Lord if we do not have fellowship with one another, as He has given us to each other to equip us for His service. This call to discipleship is contrasted with the siren call of the world to turn our backs on Him, to sit in judgement of Him. The serpent still beckons for us to put ourselves in charge; our flesh constantly desires to be in charge. In contrast to Col 2:4, where we were advised not to succumb to plausible arguments of men that might delude us, here we are told to be rooted, built up in Christ, and established in the faith. Paul knows these saints have been taught these things rightly; he started this letter thanking God for the progress they had been making as gospel warriors. Here's a critical truth for us: We may grow wise in many biblical doctrines and theological truths, we never outgrow our need of the gospel. If we learn all the systematic and biblical theology man has written but we forget Who bought us and how He did, we will tend to drift into trusting our human wisdom, so called. Rightly comprehending the grace that is ours in Christ Jesus will keep us humble and very grateful – abounding in thanksgiving. If we truly understand the saving grace that is ours, we will be abounding in thanks to God!

Verse 8 provides the same type of warning as we found in verse 4 - take measures so no one, not even your favorite preacher - can capture your mind. This is what Absalom did in 2 Sam 18 as her worked to draw the men of Israel away from David. Paul lays out three areas of humanistic thinking - philosophy, empty deceit in line with human tradition, and elemental or foundational elements or spirits of the world. Each of these represents humanistic ways of thinking that are contrasted with Christian thought, which is according to Christ. Paul sets the world's ways of thinking straight up against thinking as and according to the teachings of Christ Jesus. Paul wrote about elsewhere - 1 Corinthians 2:12-16 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. We cannot afford to conflate or confuse the natural wisdom each of us has with the wisdom of God which we access only by prayer and diligence.

Next in our text, a paragraph which one commentator (Brian Hedges) described in this colorful way: "This rich paragraph is “pressed down, shaken together, and running over” in spiritual wealth and insight. While the whole letter of Colossians radiates the sufficiency of Christ, the saving significance of his sufficiency nowhere burns brighter than here. Having exposed the hollow doctrine of the hucksters in verse 8, the apostle now reflects on the inexhaustible fullness of Christ in a cascading torrent of vivid images and motifs."

The fullness of deity dwells in the God-man. This phrase reveals of the dual nature of the Son of man - fully God and fully man. If He was not God, the fullness of deity could not be His; if He was not man (a tabernacle of flesh as Paul put it) that fullness of deity could not dwell in Him. As God dwelt with Israel in the tent of meeting, so Jesus as a man had Jesus as God dwelling within Him. While this flies in the face of what men call science, it is the truth of God that men fought to make clear early in the life of the post-apostolic church.

Verse 10 says we, the redeemed, have been - past tense - filled with Him. How is it that we filled with Christ? I submit that this refers to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that every saint enjoys from the moment he is regenerated. In the same way Jesus is God, He is present where His Spirit is; but it's not the same as Jesus in His glorified body is present in each of us - for the same reasons He is not in the crackers used by the cult of Rome. Paul wants to impress upon us this Jesus that He preaches to everyone. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords, the head over every ruler and authority. I think Paul heard about what we call the Great Commission, wherein the Lord Jesus said, Matthew 28:18 “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me."  This means He is the ruler over us and even those who do not submit to Him. Many men tell others to "make Jesus Lord of your life," as if the creature has that kind of power! Jesus IS Lord, to the glory of God the Father! The ignorance or rebellion of creatures does not affect the identity of Christ any more than Israel's unbelief does not nullify God's faithfulness (Romans 3:3).

Verse 11 brings us to a point that contrasts the New Covenant with the Old by pointing out that true circumcision is a spiritual act of God applied only to the people who are true Israel. Fleshly circumcision or the lack thereof is meaningless (Gal 6:15 & 1 Cor 7:19). But paedobaptists must have fleshly circumcision be very meaningful in order to tie it to baptism, which they claim is the sign of the New Covenant. By contrasting fleshly circumcision with spiritual circumcision, Paul shows us that circumcision is the sign of each covenant: fleshly circumcision for the fleshly covenant that could never take away sins; spiritual circumcision for the spiritual covenant, wherein each and every member has been regenerated and raised up in Christ. Just the Sabbath is also called out as the sign of the Mosaic Covenant, so we see the Lord Jesus identify His blood, as portrayed in the Lord's Supper, as a sign of the New Covenant.

We also see in this verse the significance of spiritual circumcision - putting off the body of flesh. This shows that we who have been made alive in Christ have died to sin and the flesh. Fleshly circumcision removes a small part of flesh, leaving the person in tact; spiritual circumcision kills the flesh - setting us free from sin's mastery and freeing us to the mastery of grace in Christ.  It was His death on the cross, taking the punishment for our sins - that reconciled us to Himself, circumcising us without the use of human hands.

Paul goes on in verse 12 to teach us the role of water baptism - it is our way of identifying what has been accomplished. This verse also shows why "baptizing" unbelievers cannot be reconciled with Scripture - by water baptism we are buried with Him and raised with Him through faith in God and the work He has done - in Christ and us! Just as Christ was raised from the dead, so were we, when He circumcised our souls and coming up from the water displays the faith in Christ that is necessary for our new life. Unbelievers do not have such faith in Christ. This is why many people who practice what is called infant baptism have resorted to various schemes to deal with it. Historically, 8 variations have been claimed by these people:

1. Fides Aliena: The church supplies the faith necessary for infant baptism.

2. Fides Infusa: Baptism infuses faith into the infant.

3. Fides Infantium: An infants’ own faith is present in baptism.

4. Sacramental Symbolism: The legitimacy of infant baptism is independent of faith.

5. Pre-credobaptism: Baptism precedes faith in the infant, but does not guarantee it.

6. Presumptive Regeneration: The church assumes its baptized infants have faith until proven otherwise.

7. Baptismal Regeneration: Baptism imparts faith to all infants (including the non-elect).

8. Paedofaith: Infants have faith prior to their baptism.

God-parents were invented by the Roman Catholic Church as those who stand in faith for the baby during its "baptism" under the first scheme. Are any of these compatible with what Scripture teaches about water baptism? They all present schemes of men, trying to twist Scripture to support their beloved doctrine. The truth is far, far simpler: baptism represents the sacrifice made by Christ on our behalf; it has no merit, adds nothing to the grace given us which is what saves sinners. Everything and anything added to grace makes grace of no effect and betrays a lack of trust in God.

The last three verses in our passage describe our salvation - all of which is the work of Christ. Similar to Paul's description of natural man in Eph 2, he says here that we were dead in trespasses and our Gentile flesh. This shows us Paul is writing to non-Jews, those not circumcised in the flesh; yet dead in trespasses, being a law unto themselves. Christ made us alive with Himself - which relates back to water baptism as the symbol of that. This is the same message - being made alive in Christ, having been dead in trespasses - as we read in chapter 1 and verse 13: He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son.  Buried with Him in baptism and raised with Him.

His death for our sins made the way for our death to sin; His everlasting life after death made the way for our resurrection life which results in eternal life with Him.

But no only did Christ make us alive in Him and forgive us our sin, He erased the certificate of debt (reminds me of the OC certificate of divorce, which could mean certain poverty for the woman). This certificate carried obligations, which all law does - whether codified in the Mosaic Covenant or given to man directly. That which was working our condemnation was cancelled and nailed to His cross. Jesus made a public display of bearing the wrath due our sin in His body as He hung on the cross. He was not ashamed to suffer for us, not ashamed to call us brothers (Heb 2:11) – the question that ought to be always on our minds: Are we ashamed of Him? We cannot let ourselves off the hook by our good intentions; we must be honest and examine ourselves. Have you and I been faithful to herald the life-saving gospel to others?

The last verse reveals yet another glorious work completed by Christ on our behalf. For not only did Jesus forgive us, raise us up to new life, and reconcile us to the Father; He disarmed the rulers and authorities and disgraced them publicly. How did He do this? We know the last enemy is death – the master sin brings death to all mortals for all have sinned. Satan and his minions know they are the rulers of death – they push out of their minds that Christ holds the keys of hell and death. When He arose, in a glorified body not stained by sin, hell was left waiting and death was overthrown. After Jesus rose from the dead, He "presented Himself alive" (Acts 1:3) to the women near the tomb (Matthew 28:9-10), to His disciples (Luke 24:36-43), and to more than 500 others (1 Corinthians 15:6) – a public display that none could dismiss. By this act, He disarmed Satan and his minions – hell and death have no power of Him or His people.  He triumphed over these last enemies by being glorified by the Father when He was taken up into glory – publicly. It was the final stamp on His redemptive work. As Paul would write (quoting Hosea), "“Death has been swallowed up in victory.” “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the Law." (1 Cor 15:54-56).

This is victory we have in Christ - He has conquered sin and death, has promised us life eternal - death has no hold on us! By dying, in faith, in Christ we have this victory. As He was seen by many - making His victory public - so we are seen by many. Do they know we are His? Let us go outside the gate being thought fools because we believe the gospel of grace. To the glory of the Son and the Father - let His message be ours.

Colossians 1:24 - 2:5 The Struggle of Spreading the Gospel

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.

For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, 2 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. 5 For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.

From John Kitchen’s commentary: "There appears to be a well-built and clearly developed chiastic arrangement around which this section is built."

Brad McCoy provides this definition and purpose of chiasms in Scripture: “the use of inverted parallelism of form and/or content which moves toward and away from a strategic central component.” He explains the importance of these literary devices helping the reader or listener in 3 ways: delineates the author’s meaning, highlights the central focus of the passage, and sets the passage in a form that is easier to remember than unstructured prose. When the Bible was being written, most folk heard rather than read.

Here’s the chiastic structure of our text:

A             Rejoice, flesh                                                          1:24

                                B             Make known, riches, mystery             1:27

                                                C             Struggling                            1:29

                                                C             Struggling                            2:1

                                B             Knowledge, wealth, mystery               2:2

A             Rejoicing, body                                                        2:5

Each layer within this structure has deep meaning; this structure helps tie it together. Paul opens this passage rejoicing in his suffering, in his body of flesh; he closes this passage by declaring that even though his body is not with the saints of Colossi, he rejoices to see the fruit of the gospel in their lives. This ought to cause us to recall his instructions to the saints at Philippi (chapter 4 of that letter), as they stand firm in the Lord (verse 5 of our text) to help the work of the gospel (verse 27 of our text) Paul tells them to rejoice in the Lord ALWAYS, and again, he says, rejoice! We who have been bought by the blood of Christ ALWAYS have the BEST reason to rejoice! Our struggles in this age are not worthy to be compared to the riches of Christ's glory that will be revealed in the age to come.

The center of our passage is Paul's two-fold struggle - to preach the gospel and disciple the saints, to personally insure those at Colossi and Laodicea and everywhere else are built up in the faith of God in Christ.

Rejoice in the Lord as you struggle with all the power God gives you to spread the gospel, rejoicing in the fruit He grants. This is the core of Paul's theology.

But what does he mean in saying he "fills up that which is behind the afflictions of Christ" or "complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions"? The papist cult camps out on this phrase to show they must afflict themselves with barbed underwear, long painful treks, and crucifixions to fill up Christ's suffering.  The first thing we need to know is that Christ Jesus finished His atoning work on the cross. Nothing CAN be done to supplement it; it is not lacking anything; His sacrifice was sufficient. His afflictions were UNLIKE anything we can suffer - He bore the wrath of God on our account - it was far worse that the horrendous physical suffering He endured. The Greek word for Jesus' "afflictions" is not used one time in all of Scripture to describe His propitiating death. So whatever one imagines Paul to mean, he could not have intended us to think he or we would make Jesus' death more effective. In urging the church at Philippi to accept Epaphroditus, Paul said he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me (Phil 2:30). Same idea - serving one another in Christ will cause us to suffer, to work hard, and grow physically and emotionally weary. But our goal is that of Paul's - to build up the body of Christ so we all achieve maturity and stability.

And Paul tells us the entity which is being complete by his sufferings - the body of Christ, which is the church. We see in several places (Acts 9:16; 14:22; Rom 8:17; 1 Thess 3:3; 2 Tim 3:12; 1 Peter 5:10) that the church should expect to suffer as it faithfully proclaims His life-giving gospel. He spoke through James that friendship with the world is hatred, enmity against God; through Peter that we should be surprised when we face fiery trials on His account - the world as a system hates God and natural man hates the gospel. Even so, it is the power of God unto salvation to those who are being saved.

Paul tells us here, as he has elsewhere, that he is a servant of the Lord in the service of His people, to make the message or word of God fully known. This was the charge given Paul and it is the same charge He gave the church in the Great Commission - to make the message of God, His gospel, fully known to the people of the world. This gospel, the person of Christ, was a mystery in ages past but was being revealed to His saints as Jesus had announced the Kingdom and given His apostles the foundational truths His people need to rightly comprehend. God has chosen to make the riches of His glory known to the Gentiles, that all the chosen of God would experience the fullness of Christ.

While Scripture reveals several Old Covenant saints knew of the resurrection, Christ being raised from the dead, seated with God, and - by His Spirit - abiding in the soul of every child brought to glory. When we died to sin and were made alive in Christ, we experienced the first resurrection. Over such the second death holds no power. He is our hope of eternal glory. He is the message we proclaim - Christ suffering the wrath of God to save poor helpless sinners. As Kitchen reminds us, this exalted One resides within each and every saint. This should be a staggering thought, breathtaking - if we rightly see Him for Who He is. Psalm 24:8 & 10 Who is this King of glory? The LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD, mighty in battle. Who is He, this King of glory? The LORD of Hosts, He is the King of glory. This is the Lord we proclaim, the only One Who can do poor helpless sinners any good.

As we proclaim Christ, we warn everyone to flee from the wrath to come, discipling all who believe to bring them to maturity. This should call to memory the Great Commission and Eph 4:10-16. Paul said that he struggled mightily to make this happen - but that it was God's power that worked in him to cause the growth he desired. How often do we wear ourselves out, thinking we must be strong enough, disciplined enough, and so on, in order to be useful to God? Yes we should discipline ourselves! But let us never think we are sufficient for the task laid out before us!

Right after telling them how he had struggled and labored to make the gospel know, Paul tells of the burden he has for people he has never met, beginning with Colossi, Laodicea, and the rest of the world - to encourage them. This is not simple emotional support, but a deliberate desire to see the saints grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ Jesus - Him we proclaim, to make Him fully known, joined together with the other saints by the love He shed abroad in our hearts. The goal in this is so we will have all the riches that come with full assurance in the knowledge of God's mystery - Christ Himself!

Two things to bear in mind here: the "heart" does not refer to the blood pumping muscle in our chests. Our problem isn't one of "head knowledge" vs "heart knowledge." The Hebrew and Greek words behind "heart" described the seat or core of the mind, emotions, and will (emotions and will are functions or aspects of our mind, not things separate from it). The Second thing is God's mystery. Paul wants us to have knowledge of God's mystery - which is Christ. We don't make Him known by fancy programs or expensive audio/video systems; we make Him known by the proper preaching and teaching of His Word.

It's important to get these things, and the truth of God's mystery, straight. If we don't, if we are not sure of the message of reconciliation given to us in Scripture, we will be vulnerable to being led astray by the plausible arguments of men. Let's consider a lesser issue - water baptism. The only examples and references to water baptism in Scripture show being immersed into water and being brought up out of it. Our Presbyterian brothers have plausible arguments based on Old Covenant circumcision and household baptisms that have convinced many people that infants should be sprinkled with water, calling that baptism. This is not an essential doctrine unless one follows the argument for infant baptism to its logical conclusion and people start believing water baptism covers sin or regenerates the soul. Such thoughts are behind the beginning of "infant baptism" and pose an alluring reason for this doctrine.

On the most important doctrine - how are sinners saved - man have plausible arguments that convince many that Christ died for everyone and has given everyone the grace to choose to be saved. Free will is the clarion call to men who cannot stand the thought of a sovereign God Who has chosen who He will save. No, this is too important not to allow the creature the right to tell the Creator who He must save!

If we are not grounded in Scripture, such tales can cause confusion or error in our thinking. So Paul has said everything up chapter 2:4 to make sure the saints have full assurance of the knowledge of Christ so we will not be deluded by men with plausible arguments.  Again to his letter to Philippi, we see how small things mark those who are enemies of God and should be marked so all will know to be on guard.

Philippians 3:17-21 Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

Note the contrast - people who have their minds focused on earthly things (what they eat, the lust of the flesh) compared with people who have their minds set on heavenly things (citizenship in heaven, looking for Christ to return). Those who say some folks are too heavenly minded to be any earthly good are actually aligned with the enemies of the cross of Christ. In fact, we have to be heavenly minded to be of any earthly good. For those who are perishing need what they either do not know or hate. They need the gospel - and that is God's wisdom!

Paul concludes this passage by telling the saints at Colossi that he was present in spirit with these dear saints that he had never met, rejoicing at their good order and the firmness of their faith in Christ Jesus. I cannot help but take note of something. Rick Warren is loved by many and has been called "America's Pastor." He has built his organization by seeking to find out what unconverted people want in a local "church" and giving it to them. In his book, The Purpose Driven Life, Warren tells us (pg 105) that we are lying when we tell someone, “I’ll be there in spirit.” He claims we can only be where our physical body is. I wonder which of the myriad translations he used in the book did not have this statement by Paul. Any teacher that cannot embrace all the God has given us in His Word should not be highly regarded. The apostle rejoiced to see firmness of faith in Christ and stability in Colossi - our ambition ought to be to possess the same attributes they did. We should not be led astray by those who are careless with the Scripture or focused on earthly things.

We have the gospel. We have Christ. Let us be firm in our faith and immoveable on the truths given to us by our great and holy Creator.