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By Kyle Grimes
I object to someone whose message is 'suffering for Jesus', because their emphasis is certainly in the wrong place. Remember Jesus' mission. (John 10:10) He came to give us Abundant Life! This includes blessing, prosperity, healing and security. Nevertheless, being a Christian isn't about standing on a mountain top all our lives and shouting, "I'm blessed, I'm blessed, I'm blessed!" either. Read thoughtfully what I have written to you.
Before I get further into this subject, remember that suffering in Middle English carries the definition of ‘allowing’ or ‘tolerating’ as well as being subjected to or experiencing something bad or unpleasant (He has suffered since his imprisonment.), being affected by an illness or ailment (He suffers from insomnia.), becoming worse in quality or condition (The book suffers from misuse). So we could rephrase the question: What is a Christian to suffer and what is he to suffer not?
To see God’s will in action, without man’s interference, we have but to look at the recounting of the creation of the world. Suffering
was not included with the blessing which God spoke over man and woman when He made them. Nor was it part of the creation which God called ‘good’ at the end of the sixth day.
So suffering came about later, as a result of man’s disobedience to God’s commands. The woman would give birth with toil and the ground would only yield with toil. Man’s assignment was to subdue the earth, but now it would be hard work, it would cost him. He was excluded from the beautiful place, the garden made for his dwelling, and from the source of his life. God walked in the garden, but man could not walk there any longer. He could no longer walk with God. The principle of rebellion and anarchy had been let loose upon man and his descendants. Suffering began.
Before I get further into this subject, remember that suffering in Middle English carries the definition of ‘allowing’ or ‘tolerating’ as well as being subjected to or experiencing something bad or unpleasant (He has suffered since his imprisonment.), being affected by an illness or ailment (He suffers from insomnia.), becoming worse in quality or condition (The book suffers from misuse). So we could rephrase the question: What is a Christian to suffer and what is he to suffer not?
To see God’s will in action, without man’s interference, we have but to look at the recounting of the creation of the world. Suffering
was not included with the blessing which God spoke over man and woman when He made them. Nor was it part of the creation which God called ‘good’ at the end of the sixth day.So suffering came about later, as a result of man’s disobedience to God’s commands. The woman would give birth with toil and the ground would only yield with toil. Man’s assignment was to subdue the earth, but now it would be hard work, it would cost him. He was excluded from the beautiful place, the garden made for his dwelling, and from the source of his life. God walked in the garden, but man could not walk there any longer. He could no longer walk with God. The principle of rebellion and anarchy had been let loose upon man and his descendants. Suffering began.
Life without God is suffering.
Yet, in the midst of the curse that came upon man for his disobedient choice, God makes a promise of salvation, a promise that takes thousands of years to come to pass. Jesus is born, the Lamb of God who takesaway the sins of the world (John 1:29). He suffered in our place (Isaiah 53), and in Him we have been made the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21). As He has borne our sins, He has removed from us our disobedience, and we now have fellowship with the Father. We may now call Him Father, as Jesus called Him Father (Galatians 4:6, 7). We have been born of God’s seed, of His Word (John 1:12, 13). We are new creatures (2 Corinthians 5:17).
In what He has suffered for us, we may not suffer for each other. It pleased God that his Son take our place and suffer in our stead that we may be reconciled to God. Yet, are there things that we must suffer with Him, or in the same manner He suffered? I know that there are.
Jesus learned obedience (Hebrews 5:8) through the things He suffered. He laid aside his Heavenly advantages when he became a man (Philippians 2:6-8) and became obedient to the point of laying down his life for us. It is clear from his suffering in Gethsemane that He did not want to ‘drink this cup’, but it was his Father’s will (Matthew 26:39; Mark 14:36; Luke 22:42). In that, we will most certainly suffer with Him. Learning obedience speaks of denying oneself, one’s own desires, one’s own answers or responses, one’s own wants and will. To obey God rather than our own mind is a kind of suffering, and obedience is required of a Kingdom man. It is the basis for which we recognize Jesus as Lord.
Jesus taught that He would suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and scribes in Jerusalem (Matthew 16:21). He was reviled, rejected, spat upon, accused, and finally He gave His life (they did not take it from Him). He said that we may be happy when men revile us, persecute us or say all manner of evil against us (Matthew 5:11), who hate us, who separate us from them, who reproach us or say that our name is evil (Luke 6:22) for the sake of Jesus. Not everyone wants to hear the Good News. It is usually the news bearer that carries the brunt of the anger against the Good News. This also we may suffer. This does not mean, however, that we just have to ‘take it’, or ‘suffer’ it. A crowd at Jerusalem took up stones to kill Jesus, and He escaped miraculously (John 10:31-39). Another crowd from his hometown of Nazareth took Him and meant to throw Him off a cliff headfirst, but He just passed right through them (Luke 4:28, 29). Peter was broken out of jail by an angel, and Paul and Silas freed from a prison by an earthquake. They didn’t just lay there and suffer.
Jesus gave His life; He laid it down. No one took His life. His death was a voluntary act, in obedience to His Father’s will (Matthew 26:23, 24). He had the power to escape, had He invoked it, yet He chose to lay His life down for us. What a powerful choice! Of the heroes of faith honored in Hebrews 11:32-39 are both those who, when faced with death, escaped through faith by miraculous circumstances, and those who made the choice to lay down their lives, instead of escaping. We must remember that what they did was an act of their faith, not the result of their inability to escape or the inevitability of the circumstances; it was their choice. Today, there are places where some lay their lives down willingly as the final punctuation point to their life message of God’s love for man in the midst of people who are stone-hearted and cold toward God. One may also read of others who chose to live and have escaped from certain-death experiences by the hand of God. Did God ask the martyrs to lay down their lives, or did they do it out of love for the lost? All we know about these remarkable people is that they did it by faith. If you ever face that decision, do not let the circumstances decide for you. Circumstances had no power whatsoever over Jesus or any of those who gave their lives by faith. Were it otherwise, they would not be mentioned. Their deaths, although lamentable, would have been no more remarkable or meaningful than the thousands of homicides that unjustly occur around the world daily since the death of Abel, the son of Adam. In that moment, the choice will be yours to make, to lay your life down by faith or to take it up by faith.
Are there other kinds of suffering Christians endure? Any able and effective soldier knows that he will be placed in the battle, and as such he may endure hardship (2 Timothy 2:3). It is not in vain that we are told to be strong in the Lord and are given the armor of God to standfast against the evil one (Ephesians 6:10-18). So, we are sent into the darkness to bring light, we are sent among the sick to bring healing, we are sent among the hungry to bring them food, we are sent among the oppressed to bring liberty. We are sent as soldiers to destroy the works of the evil one. Imagine the foolishness of a soldier who accepts the darkness, the sickness, the hunger and the oppression as suffering sent from his commander! Yes, my captain, God sent you there; now go to work through His power and your faith and change it.
Paul and the writer of Hebrews speak of our lives as a race. The discipline involved in running a race could be considered a kind of suffering. Having to lay aside certain things, having to deny ourselves others, the focus required not just to run, but to run to win, are all necessary sufferings to ‘get the gold’.
Paul speaks of another suffering (Galatians 4:19), and we see it reflected in Jesus’ tears for Jerusalem (Luke 19:41). Love brings its own suffering. A mother loves a child and suffers with him until the suffering has been removed, Paul loves the Galatians and labors that Christ be formed in them, and Jesus loves Jerusalem and yet sees the results of the stubbornness of her inhabitants.
Yet there are many things we are not to suffer (or to suffer not). He was bruised and beaten, wounded for my transgression, that I might be healed in Him (Isaiah 53). He made Himself poor, that I might be rich in Him (2 Corinthians 8:9). I am redeemed from the curse of the law (Galatians 3:13). So neither poverty, sickness, nor any other thing mentioned under the curse has any part in my life. The first Adam brought us death, a curse and condemnation, the second Adam has brought the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness whereby we reign in life (Romans 5:18).
Is it possible for a man to be poor for Jesus? The real question is: if God were to command a man to give away all his physical wealth, could he remain poor? Of course not! If we honor Him with our wealth, He blesses and multiplies us (Proverbs 3:9, 10)! If we return a tenth of our income to Him, He rebukes the devourer and opens the flood gates of Heaven upon us (Malachi 3:10, 11)! Jesus promised that man 100 times what he would lose of give up for the sake of the Good News (Mark 10:30), not in Heaven, but in this time. He has given us the power to get wealth (Deuteronomy 8:18) to establish His covenant. Such a gift could never leave a man poor.
Is it possible for a man to be sick for Jesus? Certainly not! Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8), He healed all those who came to Him then, He has not changed. Sickness is a curse, not a blessing. It was not a part of those things God called ‘good’ in the garden.
What about work, was it not part of a curse that man should toil, that his work should be hard? A curse did come upon the land for man’s disobedience, but a man’s assignment doesn’t have to be toil or suffering. Man was given an assignment, but it became hard and a suffering only when stopped listening to God. It wasn’t until the time of Adam’s grandson Enos (born when Adam was 235 years old) that man again began to call upon the name of the Lord (Genesis 4:6). Nevertheless, men who have trusted God have always found how to do what had to be done, even when the circumstances were contrary. Abraham and Isaac always found water when they dug wells; God prospered Isaac even when he sowed in time of famine; Jacob prospered even working for Laban; God inspired Bezalel for work with stones and precious metals (Exodus 31:1-4); Joseph prospered everywhere he worked and became the most powerful man in a nation where he had worked as a slave; David didn’t need a degree in engineering or architecture to design the temple or choose the materials (1 Chronicles 28:11-19) because God gave him the knowledge; Daniel and his coworkers rose to top-ranking positions in a foreign government; Jesus took Peter fishing and showed him the difference between working and toiling all night long in his own strength, and working just a few minutes under the direction of the Master (Luke 5:1-11). The Scriptures are filled with stories like these. Solomon sings in Psalm 127, that there are those whose toil is from day to night just for food to eat, but Yahweh provides for those whom He loves while they sleep. If Yahweh does not construct the house, those who labored there worked in vain. You can choose how you wish to work, but God’s way is best. The righteous shall live by faith, not by the sweat of their brow. With men there are impossibilities, but with God all things are possible (Matthew 19:26). It is preferable to work with God.
The book of Proverbs lists many bad choices and the consequences of choosing wrongly. You really can’t claim that you are suffering for Jesus as long as the test and trials come about as the result of unwise, bad, uninformed choices you have made. Choosing to lean on your own understanding instead of God’s is just not wise (Proverbs 3:5, 6). God has always been available to men willing to forsake their own opinions, ways, ideas, thoughts and take up God’s ways (Isaiah 55:1-13). Man has always gotten into trouble and into suffering for doing things his way. As an example consider the fact that man gathers in large cities, which are a major source of suffering, lack of employment, transportation, lack of resources, lack of provision, excesses, taxes, hygiene and waste problems, accidents of all manner and crime. The ‘city’ was not God’s idea (Genesis 11:4). It is a very natural thing to blame God for our problems and suffering. It started with Adam (“The woman YOU gave me handed me the fruit!” - Genesis 3:12) and continues to this day (A man foolishly twists his own way, and then blames God for it - Proverbs 19:3). Believers are not exempt from choosing wrongly; living by the Spirit cannot be a ‘sometime’ thing. God did not choose this suffering for man. Man did this, and continues to do it, all on his own. The book of Proverbs is also a book about right choices, and the blessings that come about when they are made.
What about the suffering from afflictions? Doesn’t stuff just happen to good people as well as ‘bad’ people? Don’t the righteous have afflictions? Yahweh is their rear guard (Isaiah 58:8) and delivers them out of them all the afflictions (Psalm 34:19)! I think it is interesting that although the Bible talks of drought and famine, those that called upon Him always found more than enough food and water. It is interesting to note that no one who called upon God is reported to have died in any of the natural disasters of the times, such as shipwreck because of storm, etc. (things that the insurance company describes as ‘Acts of God’).
Are their tribulations in the world? Of course! Fear not, for He has overcome the world along with its tribulations. Does the enemy resist? We have the authority of the name of Jesus and Son-ship with the Father to make the enemy yield. We have the Father’s armor to stand fast. Does the devil test our faith? Count it joy, because your faith wins every time!
What about work, was it not part of a curse that man should toil, that his work should be hard? A curse did come upon the land for man’s disobedience, but a man’s assignment doesn’t have to be toil or suffering. Man was given an assignment, but it became hard and a suffering only when stopped listening to God. It wasn’t until the time of Adam’s grandson Enos (born when Adam was 235 years old) that man again began to call upon the name of the Lord (Genesis 4:6). Nevertheless, men who have trusted God have always found how to do what had to be done, even when the circumstances were contrary. Abraham and Isaac always found water when they dug wells; God prospered Isaac even when he sowed in time of famine; Jacob prospered even working for Laban; God inspired Bezalel for work with stones and precious metals (Exodus 31:1-4); Joseph prospered everywhere he worked and became the most powerful man in a nation where he had worked as a slave; David didn’t need a degree in engineering or architecture to design the temple or choose the materials (1 Chronicles 28:11-19) because God gave him the knowledge; Daniel and his coworkers rose to top-ranking positions in a foreign government; Jesus took Peter fishing and showed him the difference between working and toiling all night long in his own strength, and working just a few minutes under the direction of the Master (Luke 5:1-11). The Scriptures are filled with stories like these. Solomon sings in Psalm 127, that there are those whose toil is from day to night just for food to eat, but Yahweh provides for those whom He loves while they sleep. If Yahweh does not construct the house, those who labored there worked in vain. You can choose how you wish to work, but God’s way is best. The righteous shall live by faith, not by the sweat of their brow. With men there are impossibilities, but with God all things are possible (Matthew 19:26). It is preferable to work with God.
The book of Proverbs lists many bad choices and the consequences of choosing wrongly. You really can’t claim that you are suffering for Jesus as long as the test and trials come about as the result of unwise, bad, uninformed choices you have made. Choosing to lean on your own understanding instead of God’s is just not wise (Proverbs 3:5, 6). God has always been available to men willing to forsake their own opinions, ways, ideas, thoughts and take up God’s ways (Isaiah 55:1-13). Man has always gotten into trouble and into suffering for doing things his way. As an example consider the fact that man gathers in large cities, which are a major source of suffering, lack of employment, transportation, lack of resources, lack of provision, excesses, taxes, hygiene and waste problems, accidents of all manner and crime. The ‘city’ was not God’s idea (Genesis 11:4). It is a very natural thing to blame God for our problems and suffering. It started with Adam (“The woman YOU gave me handed me the fruit!” - Genesis 3:12) and continues to this day (A man foolishly twists his own way, and then blames God for it - Proverbs 19:3). Believers are not exempt from choosing wrongly; living by the Spirit cannot be a ‘sometime’ thing. God did not choose this suffering for man. Man did this, and continues to do it, all on his own. The book of Proverbs is also a book about right choices, and the blessings that come about when they are made.
What about the suffering from afflictions? Doesn’t stuff just happen to good people as well as ‘bad’ people? Don’t the righteous have afflictions? Yahweh is their rear guard (Isaiah 58:8) and delivers them out of them all the afflictions (Psalm 34:19)! I think it is interesting that although the Bible talks of drought and famine, those that called upon Him always found more than enough food and water. It is interesting to note that no one who called upon God is reported to have died in any of the natural disasters of the times, such as shipwreck because of storm, etc. (things that the insurance company describes as ‘Acts of God’).
Are their tribulations in the world? Of course! Fear not, for He has overcome the world along with its tribulations. Does the enemy resist? We have the authority of the name of Jesus and Son-ship with the Father to make the enemy yield. We have the Father’s armor to stand fast. Does the devil test our faith? Count it joy, because your faith wins every time!
If He sends me into the dark, it is to bring light. If He sends me into the prisons, it is to set men free. If He sends me against the enemy, it is to show the enemy he is defeated. This is not suffering, this is VICTORY!
With love and joy!
Dad
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