Colossians Part 3: The Body of Christ

Negative, don’t be drawn away by philosophies, vain teachings. Paul had a fear, or he would not have said that. These churches were sometimes suddenly swept by outward, physical persecution by the city. The door could open, and in could come a bunch of soldiers, not policemen, but soldiers, and they would certainly be dispersed. They were living with a Damocles’ sword over their head. Now, for the two of you who don’t know what the Damocles’ sword is, do you want me to explain? Okay, Damocles was the king of a country, and there was someone who wanted very much to be the king of that country. So, he invited the man to come in and sit on his throne. And then he said to the man, “Look up.” And above him was a huge sword hanging by a thread. And he said, “When you are in a position like mine, this is how perilous your situation is.” It came to be known as Damocles’ sword.

Brothers and sisters, this church was living under a Damocles’ sword. Did you understand it? Now it could be swept away at any time; these are not things we appreciate. Brothers and sisters, I appreciate the fact that this is written to a church. Now, this is the first time in history you’ve ever heard anything like this. But I’m telling you, you want to lose everything, you lose the church, and the growth isn’t there, and the glory isn’t there, and the fruit bearing isn’t there. You’ve lost everything when you’ve lost the church. Everything except your salvation, and as one who cares for the churches, I know the fear that’s in my own heart. That thing might open any day and sweep one of the churches out of existence.

I’m going to reread this passage now and let you hear it again, okay? Christ has reconciled a body of people in His human flesh. He has made that person, that corporate person, holy and blameless without reproach before when the church stands in His presence. He will continue to do this if you, the church, continue in the faith firmly established, not being moved from the hope of this gospel of ours that you’ve heard.

Brothers and sisters that were addressed to an ekklesia, and you’ve just heard me say things that I don’t ever talk about. Let me see if I can get a witness to that. Honey, is this not rather unusual for me to say this? And I may never say it again, I may, I don’t know, but I have kept this a secret, but I have to say this for you to understand this passage. I don’t always understand what Paul is talking about, but he and I are in the same business. And just like you can understand a surgeon, if you’re a surgeon or a contractor, if you’re a contractor, I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about, I don’t know what this brother’s talking about.

This good news has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of this good news I, Paul, have been made a servant, and I, Gene, have been made a servant of that gospel. Saints, hang on to the gospel you heard and don’t be moved as a woman, as a person, as a people, as a church. Don’t let the most precious thing you’ve got other than your salvation, don’t let her be moved by any of the problems that sweep over the church.

Here we go. One of the reasons I am saying these things to you is so that you can understand some of this stuff, because it is really mystical, and we’re getting some more. I, Paul, rejoice in my sufferings. Well, you, Paul, can go ahead and rejoice in your sufferings, but you, Paul, give me a headache when I read this. I, Gene, have never rejoiced in my sufferings. I have simply suffered. I don’t like you, Paul, when you write like this. I rejoice in my sufferings; I rejoice in them for the sake of the church in Colossae. And he’s never seen the church in Colossae.

This passage should never have been thought of, much less written; it doesn’t make any sense. A man is chained, he’s beaten, and it’s obvious he is in poor health. He just came from a horrible shipwreck. He’s sitting in Rome, the coldest I’ve ever been in my life was in Rome, Italy. You know why? Because it was the middle of winter, and those people don’t light fires. Heat’s too expensive. I would have almost screamed to find some place in Rome, Italy, where I could go and get up beside a fire, go into a department store cold as ice, and this fog. This was in 1951, and in 52, I almost froze to death in that town. Now, if it was that bad in 1951, how bad must it have been in 61 A.D?

Cold, beat up, old, going blind, hated, imprisoned, about to meet a first-class monster named Nero, and I’m sitting here in this prison rejoicing about my sufferings because they’re for your sake in Colossae. You come up here and explain that passage. The invisibles are all over this passage of scripture; the thing about space-time is all over this passage. It’s the mysteries, some of the mysteries of the Christian faith, and I really hope we don’t have some nut in here who believes in flying saucers. I have no idea what you’ll be hearing me say right now.

All of this has to do with the church of Jesus Christ. I don’t know by what secret or mystery it is that Paul is in prison in Rome for the sake of a little church, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of miles away. But if it’s true (I’ve got to get a hold of myself), if it’s true, I am the most grateful person on this earth for that fact because I would like to believe and I don’t. Do you understand? And I don’t, I would like to believe that the pain I live in was for the churches. It would be a lot easier to bear.

That’s how Paul looked at it, then rejoiced. I don’t rejoice, I gripe. Are you clear? I, Gene Edwards, gripe in my sufferings. Wife, will you please say amen? She’s shaking her head yes. I complain if I can get out of bed, I complain if I can’t get out of bed. I drag myself up and down the stairway, holding onto the wall to keep from falling, and I bellyache, and I bellyache some more. And I don’t say, “Thank you, Lord.” I rejoice. But I think it would be easier if I could believe that in His sovereignty, these things have been sent into my body for your sake. Wouldn’t that be wonderful? Will you believe it, brother? Well, believe it for me then, would you? For I see no sense in this.  Weekends are about all the time I can give to any of the churches. I used to give three months of unbroken conferences, six days a week, and by the way, I was sick then. Then I was just sick. Then I was only dying. It was very painful. Three months got down to two months, and it got down to one month. But it got down to three weeks, and now it’s down to a weekend, and I can just barely manage it. And I think about how much more I could do if I had more strength. How much more I could give you, and I can’t. Is that for your sake? I don’t know, but maybe it is.

Forgive me for being so intimate tonight. Would you? You won’t see this very often, but I can’t handle these passages and talk about them any other way. Will you not agree with me that this is an insane statement? I rejoice in my sufferings here in Rome for you, hundreds of miles away, because it is for your sake that I am suffering. I don’t understand that by logic or reason or knowledge or information or anything else a human being can apprehend. I would have to move into heavenly places to understand that. But it gets worse. I don’t know if it’s in this passage or not. Maybe it is, let me read really quickly. If it’s not, I want to go ahead and include it before. This next verse.

This I believe, for it is by my sufferings that I do my part in my flesh on behalf of the Lord’s body to fill up what is lacking in Christ’s sufferings? Are you telling me, Gene, that Christ didn’t suffer enough that there was suffering He was to experience that He did not complete on this earth? No, I’m not saying that, but I tell you what I am saying, that in space and in time, and we are in space. You know where we are? Chicago. Do you know when? We’re not in the year 1000. We’re not in the year 2050 or the year 3000. In time, we are in 1996.