November 1, Christ's sufferings in us.

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.

Colossians 1.24.

Christ has prepared a love offering for the world by suffering and dying for sinners.

It is a perfect sacrifice.

It pays in full for the sins of all his people. Nothing can be added to make it a better

gift. It is lacking in nothing except one thing. A personal presentation by Christ himself to the nations of the world. God's answer

to this lack is to call the people of Christ, people like Paul, to make a personal presentation

of the afflictions of Christ to the world.

In doing this, we fill up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions.

We finish what they were designed for, namely a personal presentation to the people

who do not know about their infinite worth.

But the most amazing thing about Colossians 124 is how Paul fills up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions.

He says that it is his own sufferings that fill up Christ's afflictions. This means then that Paul exhibits the

sufferings of Christ by suffering himself for those he is trying to win to Christ. In his

sufferings, they are to see Christ's sufferings.

Here's the astounding upshot.

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 proclaim the cross as the way to life, people will see the marks of the cross in us and feel the love of the cross from us. You know,

...