Enduring Suffering With Christ
Notes
Transcript
We have been considering for a time now precisely what is meant by Paul when he talks about us suffering with Christ.
First, we looked closely at the sort of suffering that is common to everyone, suffering that both those who are saved and those who are not saved undergo, suffering that those who rejoice in God and those who reject God, at times even refusing to believe that He even exists. And certainly, we discovered together that such suffering, which in a certain sense defines our lives here and now, includes things like failures, like disappointments, like sicknesses, disabilities, injuries, and even the suffering of death. But although our Lord did partake in these same things in the days of his flesh, offering up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears, and suffered even unto death on the cross, we found that this sort of suffering could not have been what the apostle had in mind. Although real, although it can teach us to humble and examine ourselves and turn to God in faith on the one hand, such experiences can also harden a person’s heart yet further against God. So, clearly, this isn’t what the Holy Spirit was directing Paul to bring to us.
And, to be honest, given the recent development in my own life, I have been studying and thinking far deeper on this sort of suffering than I had even when I taught through this common suffering in Adam’s world.
However, the suffering of Christ was far different than this. His humiliation at the hands of men He created when they hid their faces from Him, so much so did they despise Him whom they demanded to be killed. The only one who had the absolute right to demand blood that day, instead carried our sorrows and bore our griefs to the cross; His being hung on a tree taken as a symbol of Him being smitten of God. And yet, Yahweh was pleased to crush Him, to put Him to grief, to place His soul as a guilt offering, the propitiatory atonement for sin.
And so, although we are united with Him in the likeness of His death, buried with Him through our immersion into Him into death, baptized into His death through our union with Him, and so that we did share in His suffering in that manner, there is something clear and necessary to that being within the scope of what the apostle is saying here when he says, “if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.”
But I think that it becomes yet more clear, if we bring in what Paul writes in verse 18 as he morphs into the next argument, because that brings us a particular perspective that suggesting this primarily refers to Christ’s suffering that we share in through our union with Him. Let’s look at this all together,
and if children, also heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
It ought to be clear to all of us, that verse 18 is not looking back at the cross, talking about suffering that has already happened and is in the past, it is over and done with, Hebrews 10 reminding us clearly in verse 10 “By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” and again in verse 14, “For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified”, the author of that epistle standing that one sacrifice for all time up against the multitude sacrifices by the former priests, who stood daily “offering time after time the same sacrifices which can never take away sins” in verse 11 of that chapter.
No, the immediate intent of this “suffering with Him” is not something that occurred in the past, but is something that occurs at the present time.
And we should likewise be entirely clear, lest someone here or someone watching this video later has some degree of understanding of Roman Catholicism, that this is not the sacrilegious abomination that occurs in the Roman Catholic mass where the priest commands Christ to come down and inhabit the consecrated host (which is only the wafer of bread and wine until Christ obey’s the priest’s command), so as to transubstantiate the wafer and wine into the body and blood of Christ as an “unbloody sacrifice”, a doctrine and practice that is altogether repulsive to Scripture; in point of fact the clear teaching of Scripture in these verses and elsewhere repudiate and deny every step in that unholy doctrine and cup of demons – you simply “cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons” both without provoking the Lord to jealousy! (ref 1 Cor 10:21-22)
So, we then are compelled to conclude that there is a specific, refining suffering which believers share with Christ, suffering which is grounded in our union with Him that cannot be participated in by those outside of Christ, which is in view here. It was this suffering that Christ Himself referenced to Saul on the Damascus road, crying out “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me”, when Paul’s persecutions had been against “any belonging to the Way”. This suffering was neither vicarious nor was it imitation, but it was participatory by those whose lives had been so transformed as to be recognizable to everyone around them.
Such suffering is important and needs to be understood rightly! So, I think it would be ill form for us to leave it where we left off last time, where we realized such suffering first necessitates a person being united to Christ Jesus, and then separately to recognize that suffering on account of wrongdoing on our part, “as a murderer, or thief, or evildoer, or troublesome meddler” was how 1 Peter 4 put it, is something entirely outside of what the Holy Spirit has in view here.
As good and necessary as such teaching is, as important as it is for us to understand before we move on, I think that this is still something of an incomplete understanding of just how personal this suffering is. And it is to that component that I would like to direct your attention this morning.
Let’s pray before we begin.
O Lord our God…
In this, our fundamental understanding does not change. Heirship and suffering are intrinsically and inseparably linked, you cannot take the privileges of a son apart from the suffering with Christ.
There is a true and real suffering that has been promised to all who are truly in Christ Jesus, the “slave is not greater than his master”, as our Lord Himself had reminded His disciples in John 15. And though this suffering does not earn glory for us, as if glory is something that we can merit on account of our actions and choices, but rather suffering is the God-ordained path that will be taken by every true child of God. We live in a world and under world systems which are intrinsically against God in every way, Satan has been granted that degree of authority for a time, though even now he is constrained and requiring permission from God as he was in the days of Job; “[our] adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour”, 1 Peter 5 declares.
And yet still, the suffering is not the final note; the tension and discord resolves into glory and exultation! Those who suffer with Christ, will be glorified with Christ.
This suffering with Christ Jesus is not accidental, but both expected and divinely appointed.
John writes of this in his first epistle, reminding us…
For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another; not as Cain, who was of the evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous. Do not marvel, brothers, if the world hates you.
Abel’s sacrifice was accepted by God, he gave a better sacrifice than did his brother Cain, a sacrifice through which he was found to be righteous by God. We all know well what happened, it’s all there in Genesis 4 – these two sons of Adam and Eve brought an offering to Yahweh, and God “had regard”, it says there, for Abel’s offering of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions, but did not have regard for Cain’s offering from the fruit of the ground. God encourages Cain to not be angry, but to rule over sin rather than let it rule over him, but Cain would not listen, but when they were in the field “Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.”
Why did Cain so hate his brother? Because of God’s approval of Abel, on account of Abel’s faith leading to his acting righteously. And it’s rather telling that the first death recorded in Scripture – the first death period – went there as a martyr for the sake of God.
Suffering for righteousness is not something that is new, but old – very old. Before the flood old. Before grandchildren first existed old.
And the epitome of righteousness, our Lord Jesus Christ, is likewise hated by all who are in the world. The world hated Christ, and the world is likewise certain to hate all who are in Christ. And this isn’t really anything particularly personal on their part, but is a working out of the enmity of the serpent’s seed against the woman’s Seed. It is Christ in us that the world hates.
And we shouldn’t be surprised by this in the least! “Do not marvel”, John writes! The heirs of God inherit not only His promises, but also His enemies. When we most rightly are acting in a manner conformed to the image of Christ Jesus, our family resemblance will be most pronounced, and so our suffering with Him will likewise be pronounced.
And so, we are faced with a choice – do you love God, and the things of God more than you love the world and the things in the world? Are you willing to suffer with Christ Jesus? In point of fact, Jesus Himself demands that we not only acknowledge the cost of being His disciple, but that we each count that cost in Luke 14, asking who wouldn’t count the cost of building a tower, “calculat[ing] the cost to see if he has enough to complete it”, or when kings march to war consider whether or not they can succeed, and then with that in mind says
“So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.
How much of a cost can this be?
Let’s turn to Hebrews 11.
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.
By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he was approved as being righteous—God approving his gifts—and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.
Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and Sarah each followed after God, not on account of what is here and now, but rather
All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.
Their focus was not upon being accepted by their peers, or loved by the powers of the world, but rather their focus was on the promises of something better to come!
And yes – each, on account of trusting God and focusing their lives upon Him, did suffer, not seeking a country of their own but looking forward to God’s kingdom, a heavenly kingdom, a city prepared by Him.
By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, regarding the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward.
Though there were some who through faith conquered kingdoms, performed righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouth of lines, quenched the power of fire, escaped the sword… although there were those who became mighty in war, and put armies to flight, that was far from the normal experience. Although we love those stories where “the good guy wins” at the end of the episode, these may give hope and give us an impression that “all will be well”, and yet it is no strange thing to suffer on account of faith in God, on account of trust in Christ.
Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection; and others experienced mockings and floggings, yes, also chains and imprisonment.
Others were tortured – the Greek word here, τυμπανίζω, is the same root as the timpani drum, it likely refers to a person being stretched out as you would a skin on a drum and then beaten.
And yet, they did not yield, the did not think more highly of themselves than they did the promises of God and obedience to Him, so they did not recant or prize comfort in this life, but suffered for the sake of Christ Jesus, the One whom they looked forward to.
They prized the resurrection through Christ to be of such value, that they gave all on account of it. Not merely their possessions, but their lives.
They experienced mocking, they were reproached for their faith in God, their obedience to Him, their utmost respect of Him, by the very people these men of God were sent to warn, who not only despised the message, but haughtily despised God’s messengers as well. And not stopping there, they wer whipped and beaten, they were unjustly jailed, they were abused in every way!
But rather than leave it at this description, let’s put some faces to this suffering.
Joseph’s master Potiphar threw him in jail, though he fled from the adulterous advances of Potiphar’s wife, in Genesis 39.
Hanani the seer was thrown into prison by Asa king of Judah when confronted about leaning on the king of Aram rather than Yahweh in 2 Chronicles 16.
Jezebel wife of Ahab, king of Israel, so hated Yahweh in her worship of Ba’al, cut down the prophets of Yahweh such that they had to go into hiding in 1 Kings 18.
Micaiah the prophet of God was put in prison and fed sparingly on account of speaking God’s truth to Ahab, king of Israel in 1 Kings 22.
Elisha was mercilessly mocked by youths for his bald head in 2 Kings 2.
Under Zedekiah king of Judah, 2 Chronicles 36:16 says, “[the people] continually mocked the messengers of God, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of Yahweh arose against His people, until there was no remedy.”
Jeremiah was made a laughingstock, mocked by everyone, and imprisoned by Pashhur the priest in Jeremiah 20, struck and jailed in a pit by the officials in Jerusalem in Jeremiah 37, and thrown into the mire at the bottom of a waterless cistern in chapter 38.
They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword. They went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, mistreated (of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in desolate places and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.
Stoning was a uniquely Jewish punishment in antiquity, reserved under the Law for those who were blasphemers, idolaters, false prophets, and the like who were profaners of the true worship of Yahweh. And this was perverted by those who should have known better, and turned not against the profaners but those who truly worshipped Yahweh.
They frequently had no comfortable bed to come home to, or even a home to come to at all, none of the creature comforts of a community or family or even a steady income to provide for their needs.
And yet still, they were faithful to God!
And yet, this is no relic of Old Testament times. The same pattern runs through the New Testament church and all of church history. The saints have always been called to suffer with Christ.
And we don’t have to get very far into the New Testament to realize this – the Acts of the Apostles is chock-full of such suffering and mistreatment on account of union with Christ!
Consider Stephen, who faithfully proclaimed the gospel to those who had a short time before killed Jesus, and the crowd being enraged took and stoned him to death in Acts 7.
Consider Saul, also called Paul, who wrote this very letter to the church at Rome that we have been studying, and the many persecutions and hardships he endured.
Consider John, exiled to the Isle of Patmos.
And these persecutions and sufferings have continued even after the conclusion of the New Testament canon, recording in such books as John Foxe’s “Book of Martyrs”.
We see the many martyred under Nero, Domitian, and Trajan such as Erastus the treasurer of Corinth, Trophimus the Ephesian, Ananias, Timothy, or Ignatius who was fed to the lions.
We read the record of Sanctus, a deacon in Vienna, who had red hot plates placed on the tenderest parts of his body until they burned through to his bones under Marcus Aurelius for his audacity to follow Christ.
Fast-forward a millenia or so, and we read of John Wycliffe, born in 1377, who became a priest and scholar, who was persecuted and suffered greatly after being charged with…
denying transubstantiation (by arguing that the bread and wine in the Eucharist remained materially unchanged);
rejecting papal supremacy and asserting that the pope had no greater authority than other priests;
teaching that the Bible was the sole authority in matters of faith;
attacking the wealth, temporal power, and corruption of the clergy;
condemning indulgences and pilgrimages;
and arguing that the clergy should not rule over the secular rulers.
So much did the Catholic church hate Wycliffe that years after he died, they dug up his body, burned it, and threw the ashes into the river.
Or considerJohn Huss, who took up after reading some of the few books of Wycliffe that had not been found and burned, but made their way to Prague, where Huss adopted Wycliffe’s doctrines wholeheartedly, only to be burned alive, singing a hymn so loud and cheerful he could be heard over the roar of the fire until the flames reached his face.
Or consider the case of Nicholas Ridley, marked for slaughter from the first when Mary I became queen of England for preaching the gospel of Scripture rather than the teachings of Rome, especially its doctrines of transubstantiation, the supremacy of Rome, and other such things. On his way to his execution on October 16, 1555, Ridley embraced Hugh Latimer, also being executed for the same reason, saying “Be of good heart, brother, for God will either make the fire less painful, or strengthen us to that we can endure it!” When called upon by the Roman priest Dr. Smith to recant and return to the Roman church, he replied “so long as there is breath in my body, I will never deny my Lord Christ and His known truth, God’s will be done in me.” When the executioner put the chain around them both and fastened it to the stake, Ridley took it in his hand and said “Good fellow, knock it in hard, for the flesh will have its way!” As the fire flamed toward them, the each prayed, “Father of heaven, receive my soul!” Latimer died quickly, but after Ridley’s legs were consumed, it did not burn right and he remained in agony until the gunpowder bag around his neck finally exploded. Many other Protestant leaders fled from England, and nearly 300 were burned at the stake.
We could go on, recounting the Great Ejection in 1662 of around 2,500 godly preachers, removed from their flocks and means of income under the Act of Uniformity by the treacherous Charles II, of their homes and freedoms such as experienced by Bunyan, Owen, Baxter, Calamy, Manton, or the mass murder of around 100,000 French Calvanistic Hugenots, the 250 or so missionaries and 30,000 or so Chinese Christians in the Boxer Rebellion of 1900, the estimated 330,000 Christians killed annually at the height of communism in the late 1940s through early 1970s and untold numbers more imprisoned, abused, and otherwise persecuted. We could go on, but time will not allow, and I think the point is well made.
It was well said by Tertullian in his Apologeticus, written around 197 AD, “We multiply whenever we are mown down by you; the blood of Christians is seed.” The idea that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church has proven quite true in the past two millenia, and this will not change until Christ’s return. The principle we learn in Romans 8:17, that to be a child of God is to suffer with Christ, is confirmed in 1 John, it is confirmed in Hebrews 11, and it is confirmed in the subsequent history of the church.
I think the best way to wrap this all up is looking again to Hebrews, this time to chapter 12:
Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, laying aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Jesus Christ the Righteous endured hostility by sinners against Himself, and He provides comfort and encouragement to all who are in Him – a cloud of witnesses to what true faithfulness looks like. That God regards them, that God remembers them, that God approved them through their faith, ought to give us great hope when the time comes for us to likewise endure suffering with Christ.
Let us each ask ourselves, “Can the world recognize in me the family resemblance of Christ in me, and oppose me for that reason alone?” And when that suffering comes, remember and take comfort in the cloud of witnesses we have been provided, praying that we would suffer well, rather than merely to be delivered from it or avoiding it altogether by partnering with the world.
Let us Pray!
Discussion Questions
Discussion Questions
How can the examples of past saints and martyrs help us prepare for our own endurance?
Why has persecution so often strengthened, rather than destroyed, the church?
What dangers arise if we mistake suffering for sin with suffering for Christ?
For reflection:
When suffering comes, will I be found shrinking back in love of ease, or pressing forward in union with Christ, counting His glory worth more than all the comforts of this present life?
