Good Shepherd Community Church

… I am filling up [ἀνταναπληρῶ] what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, 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 [πληρῶσαι]

“What’s missing in Christ’s afflictions is the presentation of those afflictions to the people for whom he died.” — John Piper

The sacrifice of Christ for his people doesn’t lack anything —yet Paul fills or completes it by making the glorious gift of Christ afflictions fully KNOWN.

“The first Christ-suffering which every man must experience is the call to abandon the attachments of this world. It is that dying of the old man which is the result of his encounter with Christ. As we embark upon discipleship we surrender ourselves to Christ in union with his death — we give over our lives to death. Thus it begins; the cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise god-fearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ. When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die. It may be a death like that of the first disciples who had to leave home and work to follow him, or it may be a death like Luther’s, who had to leave the monastery and go out into the world. But it is the same death every time—death in Jesus Christ,”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship

On Mission Takeaway:
Identify a particular person or group that you’re neglecting to warn or teach and pray for the opportunity.

Big Idea:
Share and Suffer for the stewardship of Christ by His Strength.