Further on in this chapter, verses 23-25, Paul receives a double ministry: “If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister; who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for His body’s sake, which is the church: whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God.” What verses those are! What a wealth of truth is contained in them! Here is this special instrument of God who receives a double ministry, a ministry of the gospel, which he calls “the glad tidings of the glory” (2 Cor. 4:4 JND; 1 Tim. 1:11 JND). Paul’s gospel included John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16), but it took in the whole range of all that is ours as a consequence of Christ’s having suffered and died and risen again and having taken His place at God’s right hand.
Not only so, Paul says that God has committed to him another ministry of the church, the ministry of the body of Christ. “Who now . . . fill up that which is behind [lacking]” and “fulfill [complete] the word of God” (Col. 1:24-2524Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church: 25Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; (Colossians 1:24‑25)). What does it mean? Well, saints, in Paul’s ministry you have brought out all that God has for man, and after Paul lays down his pen, the whole scope of the truth of God is now revealed. Now, that does not mean that other men did not write after Paul. John wrote long after Paul, and after Paul had written this to Colosse, he wrote other things. That does not mean that this was the last thing that God was going to pen to the church — definitely not. We know there were other communications, but in none of those communications was the Spirit of God exceeding the borders that have been explored in Paul’s ministry. Paul had to suffer for that ministry, so he says, “Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for His body’s sake, which is the church” (ch. 1:24). Paul’s ministry has always necessitated suffering on the part of the saints of God. Paul says, “I am filling up what was lacking in the suffering of Christ.” It was not atoning suffering — not that! Paul was proving that he was so in fellowship with the mind of Christ that he was sharing the same kind of rejection that his blessed Lord had had in this world. If you and I go on with Paul’s ministry, his doctrine, with the full circle of the truth of Christ and the church, we are going to find it costs something. It never has been possible in this world, and never will be possible, to escape rejection by this world if we testify to all the truth — especially the heavenly truth brought out by Paul. If you adopt Paul’s ministry in its full character and accept its consequences, you will find that it is not wanted even in Christendom. “Even the mystery . . . God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:26-2726Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: 27To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: (Colossians 1:26‑27)). As it were, Paul exhausted the vocabulary when he got into that subject — Christ and the church! How much does it mean to us? How much does it mean to you? Are you satisfied to be just taken up with the gospel, or are you definitely interested in the truth of the church and order your life accordingly? If you do, it may cost you something. “Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus” (vs. 28). Now I understand that that is the highest ministry. How many of our ministries go that high? You cannot go higher than that: “Present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.” Any ministry that has less than that for its object is ministry that is too limited; it cannot have the full sanction of the Spirit. It is only a partial ministry.
Do we, in our ministry, seek to present every man perfect in Christ Jesus? This is not to just present the old brothers or the leaders or the gifted or the preachers or just the brothers and leave sisters out. No, God wants every one of us to be perfected in the range of truth that is brought out in Paul’s writings, as well as the truth ministered by the other New Testament writers. Paul’s heart was burdened right down to the end that they might stand complete in all the will of God.