He who made every living thing, behold Him. He who heard humanity's cry, left His throne to wake as a child, He became like the least of us, behold Him. Oh even now he is Oh Oh Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. Worthy, worthy, worthy to receive all praise. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. worthy, worthy, worthy to receive all praise. Jesus, Son of God, Messiah, the Lamb, the Lord, and Guide. Hold me still, and behold me see. The message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, and now Alleluia, for the worries are coming on and on and on Alleluia, for the sorrows evolve Alleluia, for the cause One good icon, good at every stage I can see, good news today hallelujah And when I breathe my final breath, I have no need to fear that rest. This hope will brightly turn to gold. Alleluia, Lord. Oh ah ah Oh, I love the voice of Jesus on the cross of Calvary. He prepares eternity. He has spoken this hope to me. Though the sun has ceased its shining, Now the curse, it has defeated Jesus paid the price for me Oh, the pardon He has offered, praise the welcome that I receive! For me, I have lost my Father, though He pleads a slight success. There is no more guilt to do than forsake the Father. And the ones who are made of honey, we will tell a whole new tale, of the Son who died to save us, those that we believe. There was once my native land Here once at a hall of fame But the son who died to save us Knows that he will be free, yes he knows that he will be free Free from every blame There can be no love that is better than Christ Jesus when He was finished upon that cross. I know He will follow me when I say the words I love. I rejoice in Jesus' truth when He was finished upon that cross. When He was finished upon that cross. Father in heaven, we're grateful for the opportunity to take up this offering. Lord, we praise you for it and thank you for the The grace that you've given to us to be able to share in the ministry of this church, thank you for that. You've just given us a heart to serve and a heart to give. We just thank you for it in Jesus' precious name. All sufficient merit, merit now my own. I don't have any good in me, but because of Christ and His all sufficient, it's amazing. that His all-sufficient merit for the Father is now my own. All-sufficient merit, and it's all because of Jesus Christ. Let's stand together and sing all-sufficient. All sufficient brethren, shining like the sun. A fortune I inherit, by no work I have done. My righteousness I forfeit at my Saviour's hand. love you day to day to day to day to day to day to day to day I lay down my garments, ready and devoted. Good words now on the beam, I must sing. No more need of judging His righteousness is mine In His love, in His faith No more can I hope In His love, no salvation Through my death alone, with no salvation. sufficient marriage, firm in life and death. The joy of my salvation shall be my final refuge, and then I shall Oh There is now my home! I once was lost in darkest night, yet thought I knew the way, but sin had not destroyed my faith. ♪ Led me to the way ♪ ♪ I had no hope to adore a rebel to your will ♪ ♪ And if you have not loved me first ♪ ♪ I would refuse you still ♪ ♪ But as I ran my nail on the cross ♪ me. All I know is grace! Hallelujah! All I have is Christ! Hallelujah! He touches my heart! Now, Lord, I would rejoice There's a wall, but it's easy to step without. Oh, your prayers can never come from me. Oh, promise me you'll use my hands of life in any way you choose. Let my song forever ring, my only voice with you. Alleluia! All I am is Thine. Alleluia! Jesus is mine. Good morning. The script for today is 2 Corinthians 4, 8-12. Dear Lord, I thank you for your Word. Lord, it factoring, reproof, correction, instruction. Lord, it's there so that we may know you, Lord, love you, and enjoy you. I pray you'd open our hearts and change them today as we hear you, Lord. In Jesus' name. 2 Corinthians 4, 8-12. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed. Perplexed, but not driven to despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken. Struck down, but not destroyed. Always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you. Thank you, Tom. So we've been going through Colossians, and we're in Colossians 124, maybe a month ago, Jack mentioned this phrase that I'd be talking about, and I didn't talk about it then, but we're going to talk about it today. And you alluded to it, filling up the afflictions of Christ. And it's Colossians 124. and the passage that Tom read kind of illustrates that Christ suffered and we will suffer. And that's the point to look at today, that we suffer as followers of Christ. So kind of an opening illustration. You've probably been in situations, maybe at work, maybe elsewhere, where someone did something and it was maybe embarrassing or whatnot and you were part of it just by being associated with that person. You didn't do it, but you were part of it and you felt a little bit of that shame or whatever. We were on a job A long time ago, I heard stories of other paint companies where one guy goes and gets paint, pulls up in the van, the work van, unloads the paint, and everybody comes and grabs it, and one five gets left behind the van, and nobody realizes it. Guy gets in the van to leave, backs over the five of paint on a brand new blacktop driveway, right as the owners pull in. Yeah. Another time, the address numbers were mixed up, and a few doors down across the street was the house that was supposed to be painted. And so somebody got a free paint job, right? You hear about those things. We had a job that I came on late, and I'm up in a lift, and another person was using a wheeled cart. to assist their job, and five gallons of paint were spilled on the sidewalk. And I looked down and saw it happen, and I'm up in the lift, you know, and I'm doing this. It's not my responsibility to jump down there and help. There's two guys there. Well, then I look back a couple of minutes later, and nobody's there. Nobody's cleaning anything up. and I'm trying to figure out what's going on. Well, our contact for that site comes walking along because now the elderly people that are supposed to be using that sidewalk can't use it because it's covered in paint. And so, did I feel a little bit of the shame and embarrassment of that moment? Yeah, I did. Well, that same day, blue paint was spilled on another part of the sidewalk. And the guy, the site supervisor, came to me and said, hey, the grill that's over by that wall where some of the stuff was painted, somebody broke the side where you put your supplies, broke that edge off. And standing there looking at it, you can see that somebody decided not to get a ladder, but to brace their foot on the edge of the grill, but then just kind of cover it up and left. And we were able to clean up the paint, but the grill was broken. And he was not real happy. And I said, this was Friday when it was found out. And I said, I'll be here tomorrow morning. If I fix that, will you consider it fine? And he said, if you'll fix it, I will. Because the guy basically stripped out the little bolts. And so I brought my drill, and a few nuts and bolts and whatnot, and early Saturday morning, I fixed that grill, wiped everything down, put the cover back on, and we didn't have a problem. Alright? I'm not using that illustration to point to myself. But it's kind of what we're talking about. Paul is filling up the afflictions of Christ. and the passage that Tom read, Christ suffered, Christians suffer, and it's an attestation, it's evidence of the truth of the Gospel. Christ isn't here anymore. We're going to get to that. I'm getting ahead of myself. Christ isn't here anymore. We are. We're His representatives. We're supposed to be the light in the world. That's part of the image of God. image bearers, representatives of God here on earth. So, let's jump in. We will experience trouble, and Paul says on every side. But, and this is really the point, I've got to run through some technical stuff here as quickly as I can. So, The applications you're going to have to draw, because I'm not going to stop too much on applications. But the big picture is, we'll suffer. You have two choices. Are you going to get discouraged and quit, and not be a proper example of Christ? Or are you going to press on? Paul is constantly talking about suffering, verse after verse after verse, book after book after book, about his suffering for the gospel's sake. And a couple of the commentators that I was talking about, it doesn't necessarily mean suffering that we are bearing specifically for the gospel in every instance, but that we're going to meet our car breaks down, or whatever. Are we going to get discouraged and let up, relax, take our foot off the pedal, if you will? Paul was as zealous for the gospel as he was for persecuting the gospel. And so that's what he's encouraging us to do. So quickly on Colossians, just a real quick review. We've looked at Paul has written to the Colossian church. He's never met them. He has a heart for them. There's a heresy going on there. Some call it the Gnostic heresy, but it's a mixture basically of Jewish thinking. We see evidence of Jewish thinking in Colossians, ancient religions, and the worship of angels. Some type of angelic beings, supernatural beings. Paul doesn't go into great detail, again, describing the heresy, and I've mentioned this multiple times. He doesn't detail the heresy. What does he give great detail? Some of the greatest detail that he writes about this period, anywhere, is in Colossians, and it's about Christ, the supremacy of Christ. He answers their problems with Christ. If you've seen airplanes with the big skywriter deal, the big banner that they pull along, that's what Paul is doing, and it's from the ground level all the way up as far as you can see, the supremacy of Christ. That's what he wants them to see. the absolute supremacy of Christ. And he wants the Colossians, even though he's never met them, he wants them to hear his plea and follow Christ, follow Paul as he follows Christ. And it's supremely important because Christ is supreme. Colossians 1, 15-20, it's an ancient hymn. There's so many things that we've jumped over and have not taken time to go to, but it's an ancient hymn. And the commentators are just crazy about how all-encompassing these few verses are, 115-20. Like no other passage detailing the all-encompassing supremacy of Christ. And Paul gives seven qualities, real quickly, in 115-20. Christ is, one, the image of God. He's the firstborn of all creation. He's the creator of the universe. He's the head of the church. He's the firstborn from the dead. He's the fullness of God. And He's the reconciler of all things. And if you think about where those different things take place, He's supreme everywhere, in every realm, over every created being, in heaven or in earth. Christ is the supreme sovereign of the universe. And part of what I hope to encourage you is to begin thinking about earthly, physical things, but also heavenly, supra-terrestrial, above the earth things. Just like we have presidents and kings and governors and mayors and police and all of all down to moms and dads and line leaders in school. God has an entourage in heaven. And some of that rebellious entourage is here on earth. Satan is presently the god of this world. Obviously within bounds, because if Christ is supreme, he's still supreme over the god of this world. So we have principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness in high places, Ephesians 6.12. that we deal with on a daily basis. And you can see it in our world. You can see its effects in our own hearts, our own sinfulness. So, the two major themes in Colossians are 1. Cosmic Christology. We need to think about that. Cosmic Christology. What does that mean? What does that mean? It means that He is supreme over every being. Colossians 1.20 And I want to, in a few weeks, hopefully, when talking about the mystery, my sermon title talks about mystery. We're not talking about the mystery today. We are in a way, but we're not getting there. But the mystery, and it's huge. But part of that mystery is reconciliation. And what is reconciliation? It's not only a big word, but it's a big word. It means a lot. What does it mean that God reconciles everything in heaven and on earth all-encompassing reconciliation that's huge that's huge so cosmic Christology because it pertains to all beings on heaven and on earth I'm sorry in heaven and on earth so that two major themes cosmic Christology and then the truth of the gospel two major themes in Colossians so today Look at Colossians 1.24, that's where we're at. And that verse is, Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I'm reading from the New English Translation. I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my physical body for the sake of his body, the church, what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ. Let me read it a little bit slower and follow along. Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, And I fill up where? In my physical body. For the sake of His body, the church. And Paul is a part of that body as well. What is lacking in the sufferings of Christ? What is lacking in the sufferings of Christ? Is there anything lacking? This is the atonement of Christ for the sins of mankind. by His substitutionary death on the cross. He died for us in our place. Atonement, what does that word mean? It means payment, redemption, reconciliation, reconcile, compensate, to compensate for. So Jesus compensated, He paid for our sins with His death on the cross. The shedding of His blood, giving His life for us. He atoned for us. So it's Paul suggesting that something is lacking in Christ's atonement. Is Christ's payment for sin short? Have you ever done a job for somebody and they paid you, but they shorted your check? You know, they kept a little back. Ah, I didn't like how you did that particular part, so I kept a little back. Is that what Christ did? He didn't give everything? What can it not mean? That's one way to solve this. Rob sent me a couple videos on John Piper, and I went back to some of his earlier videos to look at some of this, and some really good information. But one good question to ask when you're trying to figure out what something means, is what can it not mean? And then go to other scriptures and figure that out. So, is there anything lacking in the atonement? Nothing is lacking in the atonement of Christ for sin. And how do we prove that? One, if anything is lacking, it's not Christ's atonement. It's not His payment for sin. Colossians 2, if you're in 1, turn over to Colossians 2, 13 and 14. So Colossians 2, 13 and 14, and even though you were dead, in your transgressions and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, He nevertheless made you alive with Him, having forgiven all your transgressions. He has destroyed what was against us, a certificate of indebtedness expressed in decrees opposed to us." All right? So we had a debt, a certificate of our indebtedness, and Christ wiped it away. Some churches, they pay off their debt and they burn the bill or whatever, you know? That's all done. It's gone. Well, that's what Christ did. It's gone. And how did he do that? Verse 14, he destroyed it. He has taken it away by nailing it to the cross. So all of your transgressions canceled the record of your debt. He set it aside by nailing it to the cross. And as Jesus said, it is finished. All right. But there's more. Turn over to Romans 8.3 or just follow along as I read. For God achieved," that sounds like fully, doesn't it? God achieved what the law could not do because it was weakened through the flesh, Romans 8.3, "...by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and concerning sin He condemned sin in the flesh." So Jesus, the God-man, born of a woman, God and man, He came like us, Hebrews tells us, tempted like as we are, yet without sin, and he bore the penalty for our sin. He condemned sin in the flesh. It is destroyed. And further evidence, a couple verses up, Romans 8, 1, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Is the atonement settled? Is it full? Is it lacking anything? No. But let's keep going. Turn over to Hebrews, chapter 7, verse 27. And we'll be in Hebrews for four verses, so if you want to turn there. Hebrews 7, 27. It talks about the priests on a daily basis offering sacrifices, but Christ Hebrews 7.27, has no need to do every day what those priests do to offer sacrifices, first for their own sins and then for the sins of the people, since He did this in offering Himself once for all. We're going to see this repeated in all four of these verses. Once for all, it's done. He offered Himself, it's done. And then Hebrews 9.12, And there are multitudes of other verses we could go to. I'm giving a sampling real quickly. Hebrews 9,12, And he entered once for all into the most holy place, not by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood. And so he himself secured eternal redemption. He secured. That doesn't sound doubtful. That sounds sure. He secured eternal redemption. Again, once for all, by His own blood, He Himself secured eternal redemption. And then Hebrews 9, 26. For then He would have had to suffer again and again since the foundation of the world but He doesn't have to do that. He has appeared once for all at the consummation of the ages to put away sin by His sacrifice. So again, once for all. He'd suffer repeatedly if it was insufficient, but He died once for all, and He put away sin by His sacrifice. And then Hebrews 10.10, By His will we have been made holy through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. It's God's will that it's done. The atonement is sufficient. It's done once for all, and it's the offering of Jesus. So it can't mean that his sacrifice was insufficient. So what does it mean? This is a little bit of a lengthy quote by Eerdman. I'm going to go through it with you. Paul rejoices in his suffering. And here notes a further reason for his enduring these sufferings with joy. There's a bigger picture going on, alright? These sufferings supplement the sufferings of Christ. As Paul expresses it, they fill up on my part that which is lacking in the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church. So unlike the actual sufferings of Christ, Erdman says, those of Paul were not atoning. They were on a different plane. They didn't wash away sins. They didn't expiate guilt. However, they were incurred, these sufferings, in making known the redeeming work of Christ. They could add nothing to the finished work of Christ, yet they were endured for the sake of Christ, for the sake of the gospel. They were like those of Christ, endured for the benefit of others. Paul was suffering for others just as Christ did. They thus united Paul with Christ. In this sense, they were supplementary to the afflictions of Christ. In this sense, they were part of the afflictions of Christ. More specifically still, they are endured for the sake of the Church and in service of the Church. As Christ endured bodily sufferings, so has Paul endured, and the physical sufferings of Paul are for the benefit of the spiritual body of Christ, which is the church. So it's with this fact in mind that Paul can rejoice in his sufferings on behalf of the church. So again, Paul can't mean that something was lacking in Christ's atoning work. and he gives further evidence. It's supplementary. It's a demonstration. It's attestation, kind of like the miracles. Jesus allowed the disciples to perform miracles. Jesus himself performed miracles. showing a sign, multiple signs, that he was the Son of God. And by his power, the disciples went around and did some of these things, pointing to the fact they were followers of Christ. There is power in the blood, if you will. So, Paul further says, Colossians 1.20, and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace. not a little bit of a stand down, not a retreat, by making peace, all hostilities cease. Alright? Now, that's an already not yet statement. Right? There's coming a day when it's going to be settled. When the God of this world is going to be in prison. Right? And the God of this world is going to be Jesus Christ. He is. But for this time, during the church age, as we understand it, this is where we're at. But Jesus settled it, and it's coming. He's coming again. And it's settled. So, He made peace through the blood of His cross, through Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven. That's huge. That's huge. Paul seems to be speaking of service, not of salvation. The same words for filling up what is lacking occur in Philippians chapter 2, as Jack read earlier this morning. The Philippian church had sent a gift of money to Paul. You can turn to Philippians chapter 2, 29-30. The Philippian church had sent a gift of money to Paul, but it had been delayed, because the bearer, Epaphroditus, had gotten sick almost to the point of death. He almost died. trying to fulfill that service of taking a gift from the Philippians to Paul. He's serving the Philippians. Philippians 2, 29 and 30. Take a look there. And Paul He's trying to assure them that Epaphroditus didn't do anything wrong. Everything's fine. He almost died to do this. It's not his fault that the gift didn't get to me in the time that you wanted it. So don't worry about that. And he says, "...welcome him in the Lord with great joy, and honor people like him, since it was because of the work of Christ that he almost died." So he's suffering for the work of Christ, for the Gospel's sake. In verse 30, again, He risked his life so that he could make up for your inability to serve me. To fill up. Same word, same Greek words here as in Colossians. Filling up. Paul is filling up the afflictions of Christ. Epaphroditus is filling up for the Philippians in their ministry to Paul. Same idea. And then Philippians 4, 10-11, turn there. Paul's kind of finishing the story. I have great joy in the Lord, because now at last He's gotten the gift. The gift has arrived, and their hope to be a benefit to Him has come to fruition. I have great joy in the Lord, because now at last You have again expressed Your concern for me. Now I know You were concerned before, but had no opportunity to do anything. I'm not saying this because I am need, for I have learned to be content in any circumstance." So they didn't have an opportunity to give to him, right? Epaphroditus was sick, the money hadn't come, and now it's there. He's recovered, he's journeyed on, he's given the gift to Paul, he's filled up what was lacking, if you will, by bringing that gift to the Philippians. Piper says that what was lacking was the giving of the gift. He describes this duty of Epaphroditus as a personal, and he's very detailed, it's a lab, and he's got the verse on the screen, and he's got this neat little pen, and he's circling things and pointing to things, and it's really pretty amazing how he describes all of this. What was lacking was the giving of the gift, and this duty of Epaphroditus was a personal, bodily, costly presentation of Christ's love. They were extending the love of Christ to Paul, the Philippians were. He relates it to missions. with Epaphroditus, what was lacking was the personal embodiment of the demonstration of Christ's love. Epaphroditus didn't get there because he was sick. And Piper relates this to missions and a missionary who personally goes bodily, costly to him in presenting Christ's love, the incarnation of the love of Christ in the afflictions of his messengers. Think of some of the missionaries of old that suffered. Hudson Taylor, I mentioned John Patton, William Carey, and we have missionaries today. They give up houses and lands here to go to other places. My brother's a missionary in Zambia. He has malaria. Probably will never get rid of malaria. And so, people make sacrifices for the gospel. And that's the focus here. Think about Jim Elliott and the other men that were killed by the Alka Indians, there's another name, but down in Ecuador. And they, did the wives leave? They had wives and children. Did they leave? One of them did, the youngest wife with the youngest children. left, but the other four stayed. And what happened? Yes, those killers, some of the same killers, became believers and baptized the children of some of the missionaries that they killed. That's the power of the Gospel. That's the affliction, personal, costly embodiment. of Christ's sufferings. How does this relate to you and I? Not all of us are called to be missionaries and go across the seas or whatever. But we are all called to have a candle, to be a testimony, to bear the image of Christ. And how does it relate to us? Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 3.12 that all who want to live, and there's the kicker, all who want to live godly in Christ Jesus, and what does that mean to live godly? To be a proper representative of Christ. To properly bear the name. All who want to live godly lives in Christ Jesus will be what? persecuted. They will suffer in some way. Paul speaks of suffering and affliction for the gospel's sake in many places, as I already said. We've already looked at several passages, but I've kind of woven together three passages in a little bit of a compilation reading. I'm just going to read it to you. various passages that show Paul's suffering and his fellow believers' suffering, just as Christ suffered for the gospel's sake. So we're all wrapped up into these verses. For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow toward us, so also our comfort through Christ overflows to you. But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation. If we are comforted, It is for your comfort that you experience in your patient endurance of the same sufferings that we also suffer. And our hope for you is steadfast, because we know that as you share in our sufferings, so also you will share in our comfort. For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, regarding the affliction that happened to us in the province of Asia, that we were burdened excessively beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of living. So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me, a prisoner for his sake, but by God's power accept your share of the suffering of the gospel, for which I suffer hardship to the point of imprisonment as a criminal, but God's message is not imprisoned. So I endure all things for the sake of those chosen by God, that they too may obtain salvation in Christ Jesus and its eternal glory. My aim is to know Him, and to experience the power of His resurrection, and to share in His sufferings, and to be like Him in His death." Here's another question. Again, this is all in Paul adding to the sufferings of Christ, adding to the afflictions of Christ. Do Christ and Christians suffer as one? So, again, Paul's saying he's adding to the sufferings of Christ. Are there verses that back that up in other places? Are we one with Christ? Obviously, you could probably pull out multiple verses. 1 Corinthians 12, 12, For just as the body is one, and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so too is Christ. So we're all united in Christ. and we're part of His body. Ephesians 5.30, because we are members of His body. So we are one with Christ. Jesus Himself demonstrates that. That was Paul talking. What about Jesus? Jesus Himself demonstrates this when He speaks of His return and glory. Turn over to Matthew 25.31. I'm going to go ahead and read these verses. It's several verses, but I want you to get the context. of what's going on. Matthew 25, 31-46. So Matthew 25, 31, When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, again, cosmic Christology, then He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be assembled before Him, and He will separate people one from another, like a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will put the sheep on his right and the goats on the left. And then the king will say to those on his right, Come, you who are blessed by my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty. And again, Jesus is talking about himself. For I was hungry, and you gave me food. I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me in. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you took care of me. I was in prison, and you visited me. Then the righteous will answer him, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? And when did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you in prison and visit you? And the king will answer them, verse 40, I tell you the truth, just as you did it for one of the least of these my brothers or sisters, you did it for me. All right? Are we one with Christ? We're one with Christ. But he goes on. Then he will say to those on the left, Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire that has been prepared for the devil and his angels. Again, cosmic Christology. Verse 42, For I was hungry, and you gave me nothing to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me nothing to drink. I was a stranger, and you did not receive me as a guest, naked, and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison, and you did not visit me. Verse 44, Then they too will answer, Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick in prison, and did not give you whatever you needed? Then he will answer them, I tell you the truth, just as you did not do it for one of the least of these, you did not do it for me. And these will depart into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. So again, we're united with Christ. The suffering of His people is His suffering. So one final reference. Remember when Saul, over in Acts chapter 9, Saul, Paul, not to be confused with the Old Testament King Saul, but Saul in the New Testament, when he was persecuting Christians, Sorry, the barometric pressure is messing with my head and my ears are just popping. So Saul was persecuting Christians. He was being paid to go out and ravage the church, to try and destroy this new thing, you know, Christians, little Christs, people following Christ. He was going house to house, imprisoning, killing the followers of Christ, jailing them, all of that. And so, what happened on the road to Damascus? Acts 9, verse 4. Jesus confronted Saul, soon to be Paul, and ultimately he bowed the knee to Christ and became what he was persecuting, a follower of Christ. But what did Jesus say to Paul? It has bearing here. Acts 9, verse 4. Paul fell to the ground, Saul fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" Well, where's Jesus at this time? He's in heaven. He's already ascended to heaven. But Jesus says, why are you persecuting me? What gives? Jesus, who had already ascended into heaven, associated Saul's rampage against Christians with himself. Why are you persecuting me? The church is his body. It's him. Saul was persecuting the church, the body of Christ. Paul and other Christians suffer for the gospel. The word for affliction in Colossians 124 isn't used anywhere else in scripture, It's not used at all as a reference to Christ's substitutionary death. At all. So it doesn't refer to his atoning death, but it can point to his suffering as our example. Lightfoot, another commentator, his view is that every Christian's afflictions for the gospel can be said to supplement the sufferings of Christ and the church's built up by acts of self-denial that continue those begun by Christ." So we follow Paul as he follows Christ. Follow other people as they follow Christ. And as we follow Christ, hopefully others follow us. Where we veer off, hopefully not. Lightfoot notes, that which is lacking will never be fully supplemented until the struggle with sin and unbelief is brought to a close. We're going to suffer. Christians are going to continue to suffer because where do we live? We live in a sinful world opposed to Christ. I mentioned previously that Babylon is kind of a figure in Scripture, a place, but also kind of a type for a kingdom opposed to God. A kingdom that worships something other than God. A kingdom dedicated to gain, greed, self-pulling all these things to yourself. Several characteristics of Babylon. We can look around on this planet today and see multiple places that represent that. And I don't have to say much more. I mean, you can look around. What we export as a country, don't get me wrong, I love America. But what we're exporting to other countries from our culture right now is not good. Is not good. So, you can see Babylon everywhere as a type. But we struggle with sin and unbelief in this world. And it's all empowered by what? Who? God of this world. The God of this world. Again, the already, not yet. He's defeated and doesn't know it. And I used the illustration of Aslan before in C.S. Lewis' writings where They kill Aslan, the great lion, and they think, you know, it's party time. If you've seen those movies, especially I think one of the older C.S. Lewis' movies, it's kind of dark. You know, how they're rejoicing, the evil creatures are rejoicing around the dead body of Aslan. But that's Friday, but Sunday's coming, and when that sun rises and the lion walks through, oh, there's a shudder through the wicked creation. And I think that that's kind of what Jesus did. If we understand the scripture, when he led captivity captive, I'm just suggesting a thought to think about. All right? When you lead captivity captive, what does that mean? You're taking a captive into captivity. So somebody described it that Jesus went down and said, you thought you'd won. Your fate is sealed. Boom. It's done. His victory over evil and whatnot. But again, that's coming. The final victory is coming. When everything, the world upside down is going to be turned right side up. So, Thomas, another commentator, he summarizes, from the point of atoning sacrifice, we can't add anything. It's settled. Neither is anything lacking. From the standpoint of our personal life and our walk with Christ, our sympathy with the sufferings of Christ, we can be identified with His afflictions and imitate His patience and His courage and His suffering. As parents, I think a great thing for parents to focus on is the fruits of the Spirit. in their children, but also in themselves. How often do I need the fruits of the Spirit right in front of my face to keep me from saying, hey, or thinking, or slamming something? In those moments, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, meekness, goodness, and faith. What's the opposite of that? Not good. Not good. There are the sinless that Paul gives, and then there's what we should be. Put away all of these things. Have nothing to do with malice. Have nothing to do with this. Have nothing to do with that. Put those away. Put on these. So my encouragement to you and I, in a sinful world, let's associate with the afflictions of Christ. And when someone afflicts us. I had a few conversations this week, I'll be honest with you, that were almost to despair of conversing with people. You know, just like, because miscommunications. I mean one thing, and they take it totally over here, and it's a big deal for a couple days. Trying to, that's not what I meant at all. You know? Who am I? That's not me. Don't put me there. It happens. We live in a sin-cursed world, and in heaven, there's not going to be any miscommunications. I look forward to that. But we're here. So are we willing to put up with, to endure for the cause of Christ? Paul rejoices in suffering for the Gospel's sake. Do we think like this? Next week, or in two weeks, we're going to look at six things of suffering, and it'll launch us right into the mystery and reconciliation, and the ministry of reconciliation that we have a part of. We have this ministry. We have the ministry of reconciling fallen people with their Creator through the Gospel. Wow. That's huge. That's Paul's mindset. It's a big deal. If this is cosmic Christology, where he reconciles all beings, created beings, with himself, and we get to be a part of that, a little part, a little Christ, a little follower, that's huge. That's worth thinking about. But do we think like that? Opposition comes and we wilt. We get discouraged. We get angry. We quit. We lash out. We question our commitment. We question God. Or do we rejoice? When those tharts start running, do we pull back and rejoice? Do we trust in the God who knows all and works all things according to His purpose? And as Paul, can we rest in that and count it all joy, as James says? Count it all joy. Father, we thank you for who you are and that we're not called to follow someone like us that has weaknesses, fails, miscommunicates and misunderstands, but that we follow the one and only true God, who is infinite in wisdom, who is infinite in power. Father, I just pray that you would give us encouragement in a sinful world to be light, to be a proper image-bearer, bearing the image of Christ, and that you would help our lives to be a sweet-smelling savor to you, and that we would, as Paul says, properly adorn the Gospel. That others would be able to see Christ in us. We thank you for it in Jesus' name. my song He did hold that sacred head, for such a worthless child. For sin, for sins that I had done, He throned upon the tree. Amazing pity, grace unknown, and love beyond degree. My God, why would you shed your blood So pure and undefiled To make a simple one like me Your chosen precious child Well might the sun in darkness hide and shut his glory in. When Christ, the mighty maker, died, poor man, the preacher, sinned. ♪ My ears hear their alma so clear ♪ ♪ Resolve my heart in thankfulness ♪ ♪ And melt my eyes to tears ♪ ♪ My God, my Lord, you shed your blood ♪ ♪ So pure and undivided ♪ To make a simple one like me Your chosen, precious child. Father, we do praise you for the message of the cross, for the Messiah of the cross. We praise you. for the sufferings and affliction that Jesus endured to pay the penalty for our sin. And now we have the merit of His righteousness applied to us. It is remarkable. Father, help us just to ponder these things. We go from here to our sometimes crazy, chaotic world, It's so easy to forget and drift away. Father, help us. Just help us not to drift. Help us to think on You. And Father, now we pray that we look forward to this afternoon. Help us to just rejoice in the baptism of those that have decided to follow Jesus. Pray that it would be and encouragement to us all. We pray these things in Jesus' name.