Sufferings and Glory

Introduction

The Reality of Sufferings in the Christian Life

For I consider. Paul has taken into account the reality of suffering. He has not shied away from the fact that suffering exists and is a part of living as a Christian, let alone living in general. Paul does not bury his head in the sand and pretend that everything in this life is alright. He is not like some Christians who feel they have to pretend that their life is fun and fancy free. Paul has thought about this, he has wrestled with it.

The problem of suffering is one that is often hurled at Christians as a proof that either God is not good or he is not powerful enough to stop suffering in this world. The truth of suffering in this world is not something we need to be ashamed of in our theology, though it is something we need to take seriously. We hold that God is good and that he is powerful, and yet we continue to acknowledge that God allows suffering not only for unbelievers, but for believers as well.

Suffering is proof of human sin and the consequences that lead to suffering and death. Before the fall, God had commissioned Adam and Eve to subdue the earth, to turn creation into a garden that would not be a place of suffering but a place of peace. After mankind sinned, God cursed the ground, making this impossible. We were cut off from the Tree of Life and forced to live outside of God’s perfect temple paradise, the Garden of Eden. We read later that the creation waits with eager longing for a day when its bondage to corruption will be set free. Until then, that corruption continues to exist, creating suffering both as a direct result of sin, and suffering that is an indirect result of sin.

We have to accept the fact that God allows suffering for a time, but that it will not always be this way. God has purposed to show his power, not in an immediate elimination of suffering but, because of his patience, in a grand plan of redemption both of sinners who cause suffering and the cursed world which creates the state of suffering in the natural world.

Suffering is unique for the Christian because our suffering has purpose. We are not Stoics who believe that we cannot make things better, so we should just stop caring about suffering because we cannot control it. It is true that we cannot control it, and it is true to degree that we should seek to care as little about our own suffering as possible, so there is something to learn from the Stoic. But unlike the Stoic, we have hope in our suffering. Our suffering is not meaningless, on the contrary is it quite full of meaning.

Hope that our sufferings have a tangible purpose. This isn’t a statement of empty good will like, ‘oh you know, I know you are suffering but don’t worry, it will all turn out for the best’. No, it is a tangible reality for the Christian. Because we suffer, we will inherit eternal life. In fact, the Christian life makes no sense without suffering. Why is that? Because Christ suffered and a student is not greater than their teacher.

2 Corinthians 4:16–17 ESV

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,

This is what we will get to later on in the message, but there is hope at the end of suffering. This makes the Christian experience less like suffering and more like training, as someone would train in difficult situations day in and day out for a prize they will win when they run the marathon. All suffering is not only something that we must go through, but something that, having gone through it, we are better prepared for the race that we run in this life. Suffering challenges our passions, because it is the nature of suffering to go against all our natural desires. Now, natural desires are not evil inherently, but our worship of these desires and fulfilling them is an idolatry that we all, in our state of natural sinfulness, indulge. We worship fulfilling our desires rather than worshiping God. With surgical precision, God removes this idolatry through the process of suffering. We are humbled by disability, starved by disease, and tested by pain. God both tests and purifies us through our suffering. Now, is God cruel for testing us in this way? Not at all. Rather, he desires to give us true assurance of our salvation, and that happens through this gauntlet. Just as a math tests proves your ability to do math, a spiritual test proves you belong to God.

Romans 5:3–5 ESV

Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

In a word, the difference between a true convert to Christ and a false convert is their response to suffering. This makes suffering very important to the Christian. If knowing that you are saved and in Christ is important to you, suffering should be considered good, even though it is unpleasant. I do not say that lightly, but it is the teaching of Scripture.

James 1:2–3 ESV

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.

Scripture tells us to count it, or consider it, all joy. That does not make it easy, pleasant, or not a big deal. Suffering will always be hard, that is the nature of it, and Christ will always have compassion and sympathy for us in our suffering, since he bore suffering in his own body in his life and on the cross. Yet it is a joy, not for the experience of it, but for what it produces. A plant must be sprayed with manure before it can produce good fruit. Painful labour must precede the birth of the child, and the race must come before the prize. Counting it all joy does not mean pretending it is a nice experience, it means being joyful at the product of that suffering.

God does not enjoy our suffering, but he disciplines us like a good Father for our good.

Hebrews 12:5–10 ESV

And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.

This may be hard for us to accept. How can God allow us to go through suffering if he loves us? But the answer is that if he did not love us he would not discipline us. Suffering must be viewed in this eternal framework. This comforts us, since suffering in a normal part of human life, we can have the assurance that God loves us rather than those who suffer with no hope and, in fact, suffer only the displeasure and wrath of God, a taste of hell in order that they may repent while there is still time. Our suffering is redemptive and we should never take it as if God is throwing an angry and abusive tantrum at us. Rather, his are precise and directed strokes meant to cleanse us of the unholiness that is the cause of suffering in the first place and present us pure for entrance into eternal bliss.

The Greater Reality of Glory

This is why Paul is able consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

Not worth comparing. When he says that these suffering are not worth comparing, he doesn’t mean like apples and oranges. Rather, he means that the one, glory, is so much greater in its scale and intensity than the other, suffering, that you cannot even compare the two they are so far apart in their scope.

With the Glory. What is this glory that Paul is talking about?

The glory of God. This is what is immediately in mind. The glory of God is the display of who he is. He does so in creation, but this glory is to be revealed, meaning that its revelation will be much greater than what is currently displayed in creation and even in special revelation in the Scriptures.

Sharing in the glory of God. This is a mystery to us, but through Christ and his dual natures, we have unity with God and with his glory in a spiritual sense and one day in a physical sense.

2 Peter 1:4 ESV

by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

What this means is not clear, but it does introduce a participation with God in his glory.

God is glorified in us, and part of this glory will be the purity of the Church in the end. Our purity from sin, our union with the Trinity through Christ, and our unity with each other and a single body, perfected with our head, who is Christ.

All things good. God was glorified in the creation on the world where all things were good, though not yet perfect, for there was work for Adam and Eve to do to subdue the earth. In the New Creation, all things are perfected in Christ and the people of God perfected in this new creation. So part of this glory that is to be revealed is the goodness and glory of the new creation and the blissful experience it will be to be there.

Living in Suffering; Expectant of Glory

Knowing that suffering here is both necessary and helpful in our Christian walk, and knowing that the sufferings we experience are not to be compared to the glory that is to be revealed, what shall we do now? How should we live knowing these things?

Welcome suffering. This takes a great amount of self-denial and Scriptural self-reflection, and it is extremely difficult, but seek a mindset that welcomes suffering, not because we enjoy it or don’t find it difficult, but because we have assurance that it is for our benefit.

Have compassion on those who are suffering, pray for them, help them, and listen to them. Suffering is inevitable, and it is very difficult. We want to see our brothers and sisters endure through it and not become discouraged or fall away in the midst of it. Therefore, we should be quick to help the suffering brethren in every way we can whilst gently and patiently reminding them of the goal for which they suffer.

Meditate and consider the nature of the glory we are to inherit. The word says,

Colossians 3:1–2 ESV

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

If we do not set our minds on the prize, we will not have the stamina to endure the tests and trials we experience through sufferings. Fill your mind with the things of heaven. I highly recommend an abridged version of Richard Baxter’s book The Saints’ Everlasting Rest as a resource to help you cast your eyes on the things to come.

Pray ceaselessly.

James 5:13 ESV

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.

Prayer is a call for help in a time of suffering. Christ is eager to listen to our pleas, cries, and groans. He is sympathetic to our hurts and is willing to either heal you of the suffering or to give you a balm of grace to help you in time of need.

In all these things, let us remember him who suffered for us in his own, human body and thus can sympathize with our griefs. He is not calling us to a thorny road that he himself did not first walk, and he will walk it with you and in you. Keep your eyes on the cross, where Christ willingly subjected himself to suffering in order to save you from your sins and present you to God spotless and pure. Let that be your everlasting comfort as you endure in the hope of your everlasting rest.