“Now I rejoice in what I am suffering 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. I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. To 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. He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.” Colossians 1:24-29

SERVANTHOOD

Servanthood A Servant of the Gospel: “This is the gospel … of which I, Paul, have become a servant” (Colossians 1:23b) A Servant of Christ: “You learned [the gospel] from Epaphras, our fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf” (Colossians 1:7). A Servant of the church: “I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness”. (Colossians 1:24)

“ All ”, “ Every ” and “ First ” “Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ … now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it” (1 Corinthians 12:12,27).

A Mystery Revealed To whom is this secret made known? “The mystery … is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery”. What is this secret now made known? “This mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory”., Why does Paul labour to reveal this secret to the church? Jesus “is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ”. By the people of the church understanding the mystery of “Christ in you, the hope of glory”, maturity develops.

How is this secret made known to the church? Paul indicates that the secret is communicated by embodying or incarnating the gospel. It is through suffering that Paul makes the secret of “Christ in you” known to the church. Whereas Christ suffered to accomplish salvation, Paul now suffers to extend the impact of this salvation through the maturing of the church. As a servant of the church, he suffers for the church, because he knows Christ suffered for the church.

How is this secret made known to the church? In an amazing way, through the explosive power of the Holy Spirit at work in the church, the secret of “Christ in you, the hope of glory” is revealed.   When the gifts of the Spirit become evidenced and operational in the life of the church, and when we freely serve the church through our Spirit-giftedness, the church then is built up and matured through the acknowledgement that such service comes only because Christ is in us.

My challenge is that we would each put some skin in the game; that we would reject the view of the church as a service provider, and that we would begin to see the church as a community within whom and through whom we might serve others.