Mike,

I been looking at this verse you always quote.

Col 1:24 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:

I have been chewing on it for days. Physically and spiritually, this verse is the cup of the Lord we elect are to suffer as Christ did. That is why we are Christ’s christ. We are to suffer in our flesh for his body’s sake. Jesus was first of the FIRST FRUIT. Paul went through the same as Jesus did. Paul suffered from being beaten and persecuted.

Rom 8:36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

This is when God is making us a vessel of honor. The elect are to fill up the afflictions of Christ in our flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church. Christ is being crucified within us.

Rom 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that hence forth we should not serve sin.

Jesus is taking on the sins of the world. The church within us is His working, which works in us mightily and this qualfies us to be saviors. As he is, so are we in this world.

Oba 1:21 And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD’S.

Yours in Christ,
R____

You got it, R____!

We have been sent by Christ to do just exactly what His Father sent Him to do – to save this world.

Joh 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Joh 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

God sent Christ into the world “that the world through Him might be saved”. So what is it Christ has sent us to accomplish?

Joh 20:21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.

There it is! Christ has sent us into this world “As His Father has sent Him… that the world through Him might be saved.”

Mat 25:40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

So who are we if Christ is in us? Let’s let Jesus of Nazareth answer that question:

Act 22:8 And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.

There it is again. You and I are called by Christ and are sent by Christ, even if we are His least brothers, to be persecuted by this world, and in so doing to “fill up in our bodies that which is behind of the afflictions of the Christ” who Saul of Tarsus was persecuting.
So “the afflictions of the Christ are not yet filled up because you and I are “Jesus of Nazareth” and as such those afflictions will not be completely filled up until the day we draw our last breath in these clay vessels. There will not be a day when we are not hated of this world if Christ is in us:

Mat 10:22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.
Joh 15:18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.

We are both Christ’s sons and His brothers, and as such we too, are “hated of all men for [ His] name’s sake.
It is my prayer that you and I never “become weary in well doing” and in “filling up in our bodies what is behind of the afflictions of the Christ for His body’s sake which is the church”.

Php 3:10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
Php 3:11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.

Your brother in His sufferings,
Mike