Daily Bible Reading 14th June 2025 // Colossians 1:24-29 (Copy)
24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, 25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 26 the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. 27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.
What then is a God-given ministry? What is authentic, apostolic service and how may we recognise it? The main idea which permeates the whole of this section is that of servanthood. Picking up what he has just said in v 23b, Paul seeks to explain exactly what it means to be a servant/minister of the Gospel. The word Paul uses as the touchstone and keynote of Gospel ministry is the word from which we get our English word 'deacon'. It is the word which the AV translates as minister/ministry. To be a minister of the Gospel, Paul says, means to be like Christ (Mark 10:42-45), to have his mind in us. It means to be a 'servant' of the Gospel, a servant of the Church, the body of Christ (v 25). In these verses before us, Paul unveils the stark reality of this servanthood in his own apostolic ministry and challenges us as to how much we have been willing to embrace this servant role. He reveals the joy and the suffering involved. He reveals the privilege of God's calling and empowering and he reveals the awful struggle and burden. Throughout, and hopefully this will become clear as we continue, he emphasises, again and again, that the aim of being a servant of the Gospel, the intention of this suffering and struggle, is the proclamation of Christ, the preaching of the word of God, so that the word of God becomes fully known and the people of God become fully mature.