In Colossians 1:23-25 I think of the mystery of the promise in Isaiah chapter 40 where we read, “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” That promise wasn’t dealing with heaven as we won’t need renewed strength, we will have it forever. No, that promise is to live life today, right now in this body as we wait on the Lord.
In Colossians 1:23 the 2nd part of this transformation happens as we start realizing the new reality of our transformation. That new reality started with hope in the “good news”. Paul would write to the Church in Rome that “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the world of God.” The truth about Jesus’ work may have been heard long before a person ever responded to it and it may have been heard multiple times but at some point in time it became a reality in our life. It never ceases to amaze me that God in His infinite wisdom would choose to use such a faulty delivery method as people to deliver such life altering and saving medicine as Jesus Christ. I can come to only two conclusions when I think of this:
•The medicine of Jesus must be incredibly 100% successful that it can still work despite the obviously flawed way in which He is distributed.
•The flawed human syringe must be part of the truth that all are in a continual need of the antidote which is Jesus.
Some wonder about Paul’s assertion that the “gospel is preached to every creature under heaven” when as yet in this generation this still has yet to have been accomplished. In Romans 10 Paul quotes Psalm 19 about the truth that the “Heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech and night unto night reveals knowledge.” God’s creation is His first preacher so that all are without excuses.
There has never been a single person who has heard creations message and received it, that God will not bring them into the knowledge of the Savior. Oftentimes it is the first preacher that leads us to a human preacher.
Paul describes three characteristics of those that have been given the privilege to proclaim the truth about Jesus:
•Vs. 23 Servant: This is what the word “minister” means. I believe that you should always be able to tell if a person is a true minister of Jesus as you will be able to see they are a humble servant. Jesus is the only one that should receive credit for the message and the transformation.
•Vs. 24 Sacrifice: Paul talks about what it cost him to be the syringe that delivers the Word about Jesus into lives and in saying this he isn’t saying that something is lacking in the atoning work of Jesus, that something more needs to be added to deal with sin. The word affliction is never used to describe the death of Jesus as Jesus is able to save all of His finished work upon the cross. The sacrifice that Paul writes here is not Christ’s but the sacrifice that Jesus has for Paul in his own life. A fact that was brought to Ananias at Paul’s conversion when he was told that Paul would “suffer much for Jesus’ sake.” Saints, someone always has to pay the price in order that others come to Christ. The gospel is always FREE but it is never CHEAP!
•Vs. 25 Stewardship: The word rendered “stewardship” is an old Greek word that means a “house manager”. This was a person who was in charge of their Masters household. The steward was responsible to manage the resources of their master to the betterment of the master so that the master would receive all the glory of the steward’s labor. As such this deals not just with the message but the way in which the message is delivered. Paul didn’t ask “What do I get out of this?” instead he asked “How much will God let me put into this?”