Paul's Labor for the Church
24Now 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. 25I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— 26the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. 27To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
28We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. 29To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.
We discussed this passage in life group last night. While many of us stared blankly at each other, racking our brains for some grand revelation about Paul's words here, Charlie, our group leader, did his best to spark discussion with questions from the flow. To be honest Paul has a pretty funky writing style here. I'm sure in the original Greek it is probably more clear what he is saying, provided you read Greek. Greek is pretty much all Greek to me. Some of us resorted to go to Christianese answer when faced with a question we aren't quite sure of: JESUS!
It turns out that is what Paul is talking about here. Paul has done what is somewhat incomprehensible to our culture; he has given himself completely over to his faith, suffering great trials because of it. But Paul rejoices in these afflictions because it allows him to relate to Christ's suffering on the cross, and he knows that through his own suffering many people are coming to know Jesus. Paul's passion for sharing the gospel is the driving force in his life. Nothing else matters, not even his own safety.
Charlie posed this question at the end of our discussion:
What is it that you are most passionate about and what is keeping you from pursuing that passion completely?
For me, well...I'm still figuring that out. All I know is I want to bring heaven on earth to those who need it most, and maybe even to those who don't need it as much too. I have a desire to meet people's needs where they're at and from there share the good news of Jesus with them. I want to BLESS the pants off everyone, and honor God with my actions. I'm not concerned with grand ambitions of changing the whole world for Jesus. I just want to help Jesus change the world of the people I meet on a daily
basis.
Is there anything holding me back? Sure. I'm scared of being looked at like a crazy person. I don't want to be labeled a Christian. I just want to be Christlike. I'm scared of taking strong positions on issues that matter to me for fear of alienating others unnecessarily. I no longer have many of the excuses I once did, no one I'm responsible to, no school work to drag out to the last minute, no long term lease on an apartment. My job is flexible to a degree and I have a considerable amount of free time. And the reality is I am being Jesus to my friends, but I feel I could do more. I want to be more generous with everything. I need to help the homeless, the poor, the children and widows, and the downtrodden.
So I'll start tomorrow. I'm spending thanksgiving helping the homeless. And in doing so, bringing a little bit of heaven here on earth.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment