Suffering With Christ
Notes
Transcript
One by one, the priests and pastors of Romania stood and offered words of praise for Communism and declared their loyalty to the new regime. Their statements of unity, propaganda for the Communists, were broadcast to the world over the radio, direct from the Parliament building.
It was a year after the Communists had seized power in Romania. The government had invited all religious leaders to attend a congress at the Parliament building — over 4,000 attended. First, they chose Joseph Stalin as honorary president of the congress. Then the speeches began. It was absurd and horrible. Communism was dedicated to the destruction of religion, as had already bee shown in Russia. Yet bishops and pastors arose and declared that Communism and Christianity were fundamentally the same and could coexist. Out of fear, these men of God were filling the air with flattery and lies.
It was as if they spat in Jesus Christ’s face.
Sabina Wurmbrand could stand it no longer. She whispered to her husband, “Richard, stand up and wash away this shame from the face of Christ.”
Richard knew what would happen: “If I speak you will lose your husband”
Sabina replied, “I do not wish to have a coward for a husband.”
Pastor Wurmbrand took the state. To everyone’s surprise, he began to preach. Immediately, a great silence fell on the hall.
“Delegates, it is our duty no tot praise earthly powers that come and go, but to glorify God the Creator and Christ the Savior, who died for us on the cross.”
A Communist official jumped to his feet. This would not do! The whole country was hearing the message of Christ proclaimed from the rostrum of the Communist Parliament. “Your right to speak is withdrawn!” he shouted.
Wurmbrand ignored him and went on. The atmosphere began to change. The audience began to applaud. He was saying what they had all wanted to say, but were afraid to.
The official bellowed, “Cut that microphone!” The crowd shouted him down. “The Pastor, the Pastor, the Pastor!” they chanted. The shouting and clapping went on long after the microphone wires were severed and Wurmbrand had stepped down. The Congress was ended for the day.
After this, Richard Wurmbrand was a marked man.
On Sunday, February 29, 1948, Pastor Wurmbrand was on his way to church when he was kidnapped by a small group of secret police. He tells what happened next:
“I was led to a prison thirty feet beneath the earth where I was kept in solitary confinement. For year, I was kept alone in a cell. Never did I see sun, moon, stars, flowers. Never did I see a man except the interrogators who beat and tortured me. Never did I have a book, never a bit of paper. When after many years I had to write again, I could not even remember how to write a capital D.
To make the feeling of isolation worse, the prison was kept completely silent. Even the guards had cloth shoes so their steps could not be heard.
When we were first put in solitary confinement, it was like dying. Every one of us lived again his past sins and his neglects of duties. We all had an unimaginable pain in our hearts thinking that he had not done our utmost for the Highest, for the One who has given His life for us on the Cross.
I was in the depths of this remorse and pain, when suddenly, the wall of the jail began to shine like diamonds. I have seen many beautiful things, but never have I seen the beauties which I have seen in the dark cell beneath the earth. Never have I heard such beautiful music as on that day.
The King of Kings, Jesus, was with us. We saw His understanding, loving eyes. He wiped our tears away. He sent us words of love and words of forgiveness. We knew that everything which had been evil in our lives had passed away, had been forgotten by God. Now there cam wonderful days; the bride was in the arms of the bridegroom—we were with Christ.
We didn’t know we were in prison. Sometimes when we were beaten and tortured, we were like St. Stephen, who while they threw stones at him, did not see his murderer, did not see the stones, but saw heaven open and Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father. In the same way, we didn’t see the Communist torturers. We didn’t see that we were in prison. We were surrounded by angels; we were with God.
We no longer believed about God and Christ and angels because Bible verses said it. We didn’t remember Bible verses anymore. We remembered about God because we experienced it. With great humility we can say with the apostles, “What we have seen with our eyes, what we have heard with our ears, what we have touched with our own fingers, this we tell to you.”
“After years of solitary confinement, we were put together in huge cells, sometimes with 200 to 300 prisoners in each cell. I will not tell you the whole truth, because you could not bear to hear it. But this I will tell. Christian prisoners were beaten, then tied on crosses for four days and four nights without interruption. The Communists then stood around them, jeering and mocking, “Look at your Christ, how beautiful He is, what fragrances Heb rings from heaven.” Then they kicked the other prisoners, forcing them to kneel down and to adore and worship this besmeared living crucifix.
Then worse times came, the times of brainwashing. Anyone who has not passed through brainwashing can’t understand what torture it is. From five in the morning until then in the evening, seventeen hours a day, we had to sit perfectly straight. We were not allowed to elan or rest our heads. To close our eyes was a crime. Seventeen hours a day we had to hear, “Communism is good, Communism is good, Communism is good. Christianity is stupid, Christianity is stupid, Christianity is stupid. Nobody believe in Christ anymore, nobody believes in Christ anymore. Give up, Give up, Give up!” For days, weeks, and years we had to listen to this.
Finally, the worst came. Communists tortured those who believed in God. With red-hot iron pokers, with rubber truncheons, with sticks, with all kinds of methods, Christians were tortured by the Communists.
And then the miracle happened. When it was at the worst, when we were tortured as never before, we began to love those who tortured us. Just as a flower, when you bruise it under your foot, rewards you with its perfume, the more we were mocked and tortured, the more we pitied and loved our torturers.”
Many have asked Wurmbrand, “How can you love someone who is torturing you?” He replies:
“By looking at men.. not as they are, but as they will be…I could also see in our persecutors a Saul of Tarsus — a future apostle Paul. Many officers of the secret police to whom we witnessed became Christians and were happy to later suffer in prison for having found our Christ. Although we were whipped, as Paul was, in our jailers we saw the potential of the jailer in Philippi who became a convert. We dreamed that soon they would ask, “What must I do to be saved?”
It was in prison that we found the hope of salvation for the Communists. IT was there that we developed a sense of responsibility toward them. In Communist prisons the idea of a Christiana mission to the Communists was born. We asked ourselves, “What can we do to win these men to Christ?”
The gates of heaven are not closed for the Communists. Neither is the light quenched for them. They can repent like everyone else. And we much call them to repentance. Only love can change the Communist and the terrorist.”
— Taken from: Jesus Freaks: Stories of those who stood for Jesus - the ultimate Jesus Freaks
17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. 18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. 20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, 21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. 23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. 24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? 25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. 26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
The Greek word translated suffer in our text means “To have the same thing happen to”.
We are called to have the same thing happen to us that happened to Christ.
Jesus himself said,
24 For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day. 25 But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation.
Just as Christ suffered, we are called “to have the same thing happen to” us. We suffer that we may understand Him better, know Him better, and become more like Him.
Interestingly enough, Jesus came into the world “to have the same thing happen to” Him as happens to us.
18 For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.
Just has Jesus came to have the same thing happen to him, we are called to be Christ-like and “have the same thing happen to us that we may comfort those who suffer.
I. Our longing in Suffering
18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. 20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, 21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
Don’t focus on the current problem
Focus on Jesus
By fixing our eyes on Jesus, we will see beyond our suffering.
ILLUSTRATION: Paul Vance
I knew a pastor in the Atlanta area who was diagnosed with leukemia. In the midst of his suffering from the disease and treatments, he shared the gospel with medical staff and fellow patients. He eventually won his battle with leukemia when God called him home to glory. We will never know this side of Heaven just how God used him during his suffering.
II. Our Hope in Suffering
22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. 23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. 24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? 25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
Hope in not a maybe so but an expectation
It is expecting God to do what he said he will do
It is not irreverence but faith
Sin has so hurt and marred all of God’s creation that Paul tells us
22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
III. Our Prayer in Suffering
26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
It is not uncommon for us to pray the wrong thing in our suffering
We may pray contrary to God’s will
3. The Spirit helps us
a. The Spirit intercedes for us to God
b. The Spirit leads us in how to pray
IV. Our Victory in Suffering
28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
ILLUSTRATION: Running Cross Country — Small Victories during the race
The good God is working to us is our becoming more like Christ.
Our sanctification
When we enduring suffering and we learn to become more like Christ, those are our little victories during our race.
That is sanctification, which is part of our salvation process.
Conclusion: