Cappuccino with Colossians

Cappuccino with Colossians
(Coffee Cup Bible Series)
by Sandra Glahn
 
Publisher: AMG Publishers
ISBN-10: 0899572340
ISBN-13: 978-0899572345
 
Copyright © 2007 Sandra Glahn

At a time when people constantly question the nature of the Son of God, Cappuccino with Colossians brings readers face-to-face with what the Bible says about the deity of Jesus Christ.

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Something Lacking?

“Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my physical body—for the sake of his body, the church—what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ.” (Col. 1:24)

For what are you thankful? I posted the question on my blog shortly after Thanksgiving with the promise that the person with the most unexpected or unusual comment would win a copy of one of my Bible studies to keep or re-gift as a Christmas present. Here is a sampling of the answers I received:

Reiko said: “I am thankful that my husband has been unemployed for the last eight months, and our family’s faith has developed, and our relationships have deepened in the process. I am also thankful that God will also provide my husband a job soon. I am thankful for my friends from church, who have been praying for us as well.”

Erin said: “I’m thankful that ‘in-laws’ is not a word that makes me cringe. Though I come from a very different background than my husband, his family has always welcomed me with open arms and encouragement. I actually look forward to being with them through the holidays! (But I don’t know if anyone can beat Reiko’s ‘I’m thankful my husband is unemployed!’)”

Amy said: “I’m thankful to be thankful. I’ve been told that those who’ve come from where I have become very bitter and really messed up—neither of which I am—or at least I don’t think I’m messed up!”

Kelley said: “Yeah, I think Reiko beats us all. . . . I’m thankful for friends who are sad to see me leave our church yet don’t set me at an emotional arm’s length during the process of leaving. I’m thankful that our house took eighteen months to sell, so many friends at church got to see my daughter born and enjoy her first year.”

No surprise—an independent judge found Reiko’s entry “most unexpected or unusual.” Eight months of unemployment has meant unimaginable hardship for her and her family. The season without work followed their return from Japan, where they served as missionaries. Their present difficulty is related to their choice to spread the gospel. Along with their elementary-age children, they have suffered true want—after serving God! They wonder how they’ll keep a roof over their heads, food on the table, and bill collectors away. Yet Reiko rejoices. Her words seem to echo something Paul wrote to the church at Colossae as he was imprisoned in Rome: “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my physical body—for the sake of his body, the church—what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ” (Col. 1:24).

What does it mean to “fill up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ”? Was the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross somehow insufficient to pay for sins? Surely not! Jesus’ utterance “It is finished” was a one-word accounting term for “paid in full.” And Paul’s choice of the word “sufferings” here in Colossians differs from the one used to describe Jesus’ atoning sacrifice (and elsewhere it is used to mean “afflictions.”)

Numerous volumes have focused on unpacking Paul’s verbal luggage in Colossians 1:24. Here’s our best guess: While through Jesus’ body the once-for-all work of atoning for sin on the cross was finished, the task of spreading the good news to the Gentiles and the consequential suffering remained unfinished. Paul, as apostle to the Gentiles, was called to reveal the mystery previously hidden: that God included the Gentiles in His salvation plan. For a Jewish man with Paul’s credentials to preach such a thing outraged lots of powerful people! So Paul bore the punishment in his body for taking the gospel to those outside of the house of Israel. Yet he was happy to do so—he rejoiced!—because he had an eternal perspective.

Christ’s sufferings on the cross were not lacking in the sense of being flawed; his suffering for sin was finished. But the news of the cross had to spread before the Gentiles could know what had been done on their behalf, and the process of spreading the gospel to the Gentiles required Paul to suffer bodily. Yet he writes to the predominately Gentile believers in Colossae, “I rejoice in my sufferings for you.” He suffered for people he’d never met because they had come to faith as the by-product of his preaching the very message that had landed him in a Roman prison.
Though Paul began the work of making known this mystery, many remain unreached. So the task falls to us. Each of us. We are called to make Christ known where He is not yet named. And fulfilling that commission requires sacrifice. It may mean risking unemployment, financial loss, misunderstanding by family members, and persecution—because of the choices we make to follow the one who suffered once for all.

What sacrifices are you willing to make so those who don’t know about the glorious riches available in Christ can hear and receive?

Prayer: Gracious heavenly Father, thank you for your grace. Thank you for sending Your Son to take on human flesh and Your Spirit who indwells all believers. Thank you for extending your love beyond the nation of Israel to the Gentiles. Thank you that we don’t have to keep a long list of practices to garner your favor, but that through our identification through Christ in His death, we can have newness of life. Give us the courage to take risks in making Your name known and magnified in all the earth. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Excerpted with permission. From Cappuccino with Colossians by Sandra Glahn, AMG Publishers, © 2007.

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AUTHOR BIO

Sandra Glahn serves on the adjunct faculty at Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS), her alma mater. The editor of Kindred Spirit magazine, she is also pursuing a Ph.D. at UT Dallas as well as serving on the board of the Evangelical Press Association. She is the author or coauthor of fourteen books including The Coffee Cup Bible Studies series (AMG) and the Christy fiction finalist, Lethal Harvest.

Visit Sandra’s website at http://www.aspire2.com

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