Filling Up What is Lacking

August 12

Rad: Colossians 1:24-2:5

Filling Up What Is Lacking

“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…” (v.1:24)

What a jarring verse to read at first. I mean… what is Paul saying here!?! “I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions” ? What does this even mean? Is this guy off his rocker?

This verse comes in the middle of a larger section with themes and ideas that help us to grasp what Paul is getting at here. One of the first clues is that this is “for the sake of the body”. I want you to begin to think of the way that God has described the people of God as the “body of Christ” with “Jesus as the head”. Now it is not thought of often, but each and every body (everyone of us) has a certain amount of suffering that we will endure in this lifetime. We don’t know how much that is - it is a “mystery” to us - but the Lord knows… every bit of it. If we were to think of this suffering as a sum-total of moments… then every moment of suffering we endure is “one down, (some number) to go!” If we happened to know that total number, we might begin to think to ourselves that we are “filling up” that scoreboard… we a have a net number of “sufferings” and once we hit that total we are done. Maybe the same way we talk about “filling our bank account” or “filling up what is lacking in our life”.

Now consider how Jesus is the head of the church, and we are his body. (v.1:18) Each of us are “members” or “parts” of the body of Christ. (see also 1 Cor. 12) This is where these ideas come together. Just as I described above, there was a certain amount of suffering that “the head” of the body (Jesus) had to endure… and he bravely swallowed up every bit of it! Now Jesus (the head of the body) has a body (made up of us) and “the body” has its own set amount of suffering to endure just as much as “the head” did. In short, the suffering of the head and the suffering of the body are one in the same! In the collective life of the body of Christ… there is a FINITE total of suffering we will endure as the body of Christ. Jesus, as the head, is willing to claim that as his own… because it is “his body” after all. These are then “Christ’s sufferings” or “Christ’s afflictions”. (v.24) When WE suffer (as his “body”) we are “filling up” those afflictions that occur in us but belong to him. This actually has some pretty stunning ramifications:

1.) When we suffer as the body… Christ also suffers.

Christ does not distance himself from his people in their suffering… the head experiences what the body experiences. Jesus is with us in the midst of our darkest hours, our trials, our afflictions. He knows what it is like to “swallow sin and suffering” and absorb it. He has always been willing to absorb suffering in his body for the sake of his beloved.

2.) We are also called to be willing to absorb suffering in our body for the sake of Christ’s beloved… for the sake of the other members of the same body we are a part of.

Paul says to the Church in Colossae that he is suffering “for your sake”. Paul understands that every moment he suffers is “one down, and one less to go”. Paul understand that to suffer is to “take one for the team” and one step closer to filling up the total amount of suffering that is set to take place. He is happy to take the hit!

3.) We are able to rejoice when we realize that every moment of suffering is one step closer to being done with it, and THAT WE DO NOT CARRY THESE MOMENTS OF SUFFERING ALONE.

The Lord is reminding us that we are not alone in our suffering. Jesus is with us - present IN US… and US IN HIM. That is not all though. The other members of the body are with us as well. We rise and fall TOGETHER as the body of Christ. Paul says - in essence - “I am rejoicing … I am happy to… I am glad to… suffer for the sake of my brothers and sisters in Christ. Every moment of suffering I endure is one that they don’t have to. We have a set amount of affliction that we will endure in this lifetime and the more of it that lands on me means the less that lands on you’all AND it means one step closer to being done!” In the same way that Jesus was willing to suffer, so we are willing to suffer. Jesus went to the cross for us… now as his body we absorb afflictions for him… we are “filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church…”

I believe this is what Paul means. There is suffering we will endure as the people of God… but it has an end… it is FINITE. When we suffer, Christ is with us… he is our head and we are his body. The greater the amount of suffering we endure as his people, the quicker we “fill up” what suffering is left to endure. Every moment WE suffer, we can rejoice in the fact that God saw us fit to participate in exactly the same thing that Jesus did. When WE suffer, we can take solace in the fact that our “taking the hit” means other believers don’t have to. We can rejoice that there are moments OTHERS suffering and we don’t. We all have our turn. We work together with one another. Carrying each others burdens… “mourning with those who mourn and rejoicing with those who rejoice.” (cf.Rom. 12:15) We do this so that “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, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (v.2:2) When we suffer, like Paul, we can declare, “I rejoice in my sufferings for (the sake of my brothers and sisters in Christ), 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…” Love you guys! - JDP