An ancient mystery revealed

Having been propelled into the cosmos over the last few weeks in Colossians, it was all too easy to expect the unveiling of the gospel plan to be a worldly triumphant one, with one success story after another.

Paul has a shock for us: true servants of Christ suffer! (1:24 & 29) As they go about their “gospeling”, they face persecution. But it doesn’t stop them proclaiming Christ since they see this was all part of the plan from ages past. The mystery (1:26-27) has now been revealed: a global plan, vast in its conception, that Christ is not just for the Jews but for all of planet Earth. But as this plan is outworked, servants of Christ don’t have an easy ride as they go the way of their Saviour…

We had three points:

1) The servant suffers vv.24-25a

2) The servant sees suffering as part of the plan vv.25b-27

3) The servant proclaims Christ vv.28-29