And so is the suffering that leads up to death.

This slight, momentary affliction is working for us

an eternal weight of glory.

It's all game!

If our suffering works for us an eternal weight of glory,

that's the question John Piper answers from Colossians 1-24-27

in this episode of Light and Truth.

This sermon was originally preached at Wheaton College in 1998.

Now, the verse I want to focus on is verse 24.

I rejoice in my sufferings and for your sake,

you Gentiles that I've now been part of gathering into the body of Christ,

and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions.

What does that mean?

I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions.

Well, I don't think it means the atoning worth of the sufferings of Christ are defective.

And I must now make up the defect in the atoning merit and worth of the sufferings of Jesus.

That's heresy, of course.

Well, what does it mean?

I complete in my sufferings, in my sufferings to reach the nations.

I am completing what is missing, lacking in the afflictions that Jesus endured.

Well, now, here's the way I go about answering a question like that.

That I look in my Greek text at the words,

...