sacrifice

“Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of His body, which is the church.” Col 1:24


This verse has puzzled many Christians. We see the sacrifice of Christ as being complete, so why does Paul mention what is “still lacking”? Indeed, Christ Jesus atoned for our sins, but this passage is not about that initial sacrifice. It is about what we remain in the world to do: “Present to you the word of God in its fullness” (verse 25b). We cannot be in this world, presenting the word of God to His people, without also presenting His sacrificial nature.

Jesus came as the Word of God in His flesh (Jn 1:14) and lived out the meaning of all that which God had spoken. It involved discomfort, unpopularity, and eventually, the hatred of those He came to redeem. Jesus’ sacrifice did not begin at the cross; it ended at the cross. And so, we bear crosses of personal suffering in this life also.

But more so, rather than looking at our discomfort and inconvenience as our suffering, we share in His sufferings (Rom 8:17 & 2 Cor 1:5). In order to present our lives to others as God’s Word in our flesh, there will be things we do that only Jesus in us would do. In other words, we would not choose to do them ourselves. Jesus mentioned some of these things in His teachings. He asked people to go beyond their sense of right and wrong, and beyond the dictates of the law. In all of His “you have heard . . . but . . .“ lessons, Jesus is laying out what love would do.

When Paul was filling up what was left over of Christ’s sufferings, he was walking in love. In his description of the nature of love, he states that it “suffers long, and is kind.”(1 Cor 13:4) Though Jesus is not in His flesh on this earth anymore to show the example of what love is, we are. We live in our flesh, loving, and suffering because we love, for the sake of presenting the word of God in its fullness to others. There is no other way to do it.

Though we may think ourselves a poor substitute for Jesus, we stand in His stead on this earth as God’s word in flesh. Corporately, we have become His body, with Jesus as our Head. This glorifies Jesus’ work on the earth and is a powerful testimony to those who see our lives. Though our light may personally seem dim compared to His, it is God’s intention that we “Let light shine out of darkness.” (2 Cor 4:6). For “we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” (verse 7).

People do not need to see super-people who do the unobtainable. They need to see ordinary people like you and me with superness inside . . . the Life of Christ. They do not need words to give change and meaning to their lives. They need the word to come alive through love, for love makes change possible by making the power of God’ spoken words come alive.

We are completing Christ’s sacrifice in this life through our lives. It is for others that we do what we normally wouldn’t choose to do. But it is the glory of God and His power that flows through our lives to others. It is worth it, isn’t it?