Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Well, this morning's sermon is actually an answer to a question that was submitted to the pastors a couple of weeks ago.
[00:00:08] And we have a standing invitation to all of you to ask us anything you're wrestling with, especially when it comes to things you're having trouble understanding in Scripture.
[00:00:20] So here's the question that was asked.
[00:00:23] What does it mean to share in the suffering of Christ in a country where we are not persecuted for our faith?
[00:00:31] Then there's a parenthetical here online mockery or some sideways glances at restaurants are obviously not comparable the fill in the blank to, you know, our brothers and sisters who are being put to death. Right?
[00:00:45] We may suffer in other ways as a result of the fallen world, but that doesn't seem like the same kind of suffering as Christ.
[00:00:52] Paul talks about becoming like him in his death.
[00:00:56] What does this mean for us?
[00:01:00] I wanted to address this in a Sunday sermon because I'm sure this question is not unique to the person who asked it.
[00:01:07] It's something I've wondered about and wrestled with myself. And I think it's a common question for Christians who live in times and places where they are not intensely persecuted for their faith.
[00:01:18] The question stems from a statement of the Apostle Paul in Philippians 3, 10 and 11.
[00:01:24] He says that he has counted all things as loss so that he might gain Christ.
[00:01:30] And he goes on and says that he might know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death in order that he, Paul, may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
[00:01:49] In the Apostle Paul's case, it is obvious to us what it meant for him to share in the sufferings of Christ.
[00:01:56] He was repeatedly persecuted, shouted at, stoned, flogged, booted out of town, imprisoned, all for preaching Christ.
[00:02:06] He bore on his body literally, the brand marks of Jesus.
[00:02:14] But what about us?
[00:02:15] Though many of us can point to real sufferings, even persecutions for the gospel, none of us has a list of afflictions nearly as extensive as the Apostle Paul's.
[00:02:27] Is that a problem?
[00:02:29] Is the fact that we don't a sign of our unfaithfulness?
[00:02:33] Or is it simply a function of the circumstances we live in?
[00:02:39] Now? Before we get into practical aspects of our own suffering as Christians, there's something we need to understand first, and that is that the believer in Christ is someone who has already died with Christ.
[00:02:56] Before a believer ever experiences any personal suffering, like persecution for the sake of Christ, he has already been made one with Jesus. In his death, we become united with Christ in His death first and foremost, not by personally experiencing the that death in our own bodies, but simply on the basis of believing in Christ that He died for us.
[00:03:26] The believer in Christ, regardless of how much personal suffering they have experienced, is someone who has already died with Christ.
[00:03:38] Listen to this from Romans 6.
[00:03:40] The apostle Paul says, all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death.
[00:03:50] We have died with Christ for the death that he died. He died to sin once for all.
[00:03:59] Now this question that was asked is not primarily about that reality. But let us be sure we don't pass over this essential foundation for understanding what it means to have union with Christ in His death.
[00:04:12] No amount of persecution, even in the name of Christ, can take the place of faith in his death for our sake.
[00:04:22] You shedding your own blood will not give you peace with God.
[00:04:31] You cannot earn God's favor through suffering, not even through suffering for Christ.
[00:04:38] The only way we get God's favor, His grace, is through Christ's death on our behalf.
[00:04:47] The Christian suffers as a Christian, not in order to earn God's favor.
[00:04:52] The Christian suffers because he knows he already has God's favor because of the suffering of Christ.
[00:05:00] Galatians 2:20.
[00:05:03] Again, the apostle Paul says, I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.
[00:05:12] And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
[00:05:24] Now this question is about the actual suffering of a Christian.
[00:05:29] The reality that we have already died with Christ is to be lived out in our lives as we suffer day by day with the one who suffered for us.
[00:05:40] This is what the Apostle Paul is talking about in Philippians 3:10 when he talks about being conformed to Christ's death.
[00:05:48] The one who has been joined to Christ suffers like Christ in their own life.
[00:05:56] Baptism declares that the believer has been spiritually buried with Jesus in his death and that the believer has spiritually been raised from the dead with Jesus in His resurrection.
[00:06:09] But what has been declared to be true spiritually must come to pass in our bodies as well.
[00:06:17] All of us must still face our own death.
[00:06:22] And if we die in Christ, we then will be raised from the dead on the last day.
[00:06:30] So you see this. We've been buried, died with Christ and been raised with him through baptism.
[00:06:36] But we ourselves, in front of us, still have, waiting for us both our own death and our own resurrection, the things that are promised to us at our baptism, death and resurrection with Jesus come to fruition when we personally experience them.
[00:06:57] We could say, who have been crucified with Christ are to die with Christ in your own death when it comes.
[00:07:07] You are to be like him in your death when you die.
[00:07:13] Now, how does the believer die with Christ in their own death?
[00:07:17] Is it a matter of experiencing the exact same things that Jesus experienced in his death?
[00:07:25] Does the true believer need to be crucified them themselves in their own body in order to die in Christ?
[00:07:32] Well, no. Very few believers have been crucified like Christ, at least not exactly like him. In fact, the Apostle Peter considered himself unworthy to die just like Jesus, and he asked to be crucified upside down because he didn't want to be crucified, did not consider himself worthy to die like Jesus did.
[00:07:55] So what does it mean to be like Christ in his death?
[00:08:00] Must the true believer be martyred like Peter or Paul or Stephen?
[00:08:05] Well, no. There are plenty of believers in Scripture who experience ordinary deaths through ordinary means.
[00:08:13] So what does it mean to be like Christ in our death?
[00:08:18] It means that we die trusting God and hoping in the resurrection.
[00:08:27] This is how Jesus died.
[00:08:30] He died trusting in the power of God, knowing that he would be raised from the dead.
[00:08:37] In Acts 2, the apostle Peter quotes Psalm 16 when preaching on the resurrection of Christ. And he says that these words from Psalm 16 are about Jesus.
[00:08:46] Listen to this. He says, this is quoting Psalm 16, the apostle Peter I saw the Lord always in my presence, for he sat at my right hand so that I will not be shaken.
[00:08:59] Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue exalted. Moreover, my flesh also will live in hope, because you will not abandon my soul to Hades, nor allow your Holy One to undergo decay. These are the prophetic words of David speaking of Christ.
[00:09:17] You have made known to me the ways of life. You will make me full of gladness with your presence.
[00:09:23] Jesus faced death knowing that it was impossible for him to be held in the power of death.
[00:09:31] When we face death with faith in Christ, even though we go all the way into the grave, we need have no fear because Christ our King went there before us and he promises to lead us out again of the grave.
[00:09:50] And even if we don't die as martyrs, strictly speaking, if we die in faith, proclaiming God's power to raise us from the dead, we become like Christ in his death, following his example and sharing in his sufferings.
[00:10:06] And so it's hard to think about our own death.
[00:10:10] If you're young at least, and haven't suffered very much, death seems like this very distant reality, right? But as you get older and you get hurt more, and you get sick more, and you have your own scrapes with death, you realize death is very near, and so it's important to think of our own death. Psalm 90 says, Lord, teach us to number our days so that we may gain a heart of wisdom whether or not you have suffered very much in your life, comparatively speaking, we all have death waiting in front of us, a very real suffering that we are called to face with fear or with faith.
[00:10:54] Now it's not only in death itself that we are conformed to Christ in his death. Death stands as a heading for a larger category of suffering in general.
[00:11:05] 2 Corinthians 4:10 talks about always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.
[00:11:16] There is a daily dying with Christ. We get to do as we remember the fact that we have already been crucified with Him.
[00:11:25] One of the clearest ways a Christian can and should suffer with Christ is through the suffering of persecution.
[00:11:32] This is plainly what was at the forefront of the apostle's mind when he wrote that he aspired to share in the sufferings of Christ.
[00:11:39] And we remember that Jesus said to his apostles, remember the word that I spoke to you. A slave is not greater than his master.
[00:11:49] If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.
[00:11:55] Now it's hard to look at the history of persecution at how little most of us suffer for Jesus, comparatively speaking.
[00:12:02] I think we can hear Hebrews 12:4 as directed at us.
[00:12:07] You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin.
[00:12:14] We see in that verse that there are very simply differing degrees of persecution for Christ.
[00:12:22] It was true in the first century, and it's still true today for most American Christians. It is true that we have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood and in our striving against sin.
[00:12:35] I think Matthew Henry has some helpful comments on these verses. This verse from Hebrews 12 he says, the apostle puts them in mind that they might have suffered more, that they had not suffered as much as others, for they had not yet resisted unto blood. They had not been called to martyrdom as yet, though they knew not how soon they might be.
[00:13:01] Learn one Our Lord Jesus, the captain of our salvation, does not call his people out to the hardest trials at first, but wisely trains them up by less sufferings to be prepared for greater.
[00:13:16] He will not put new wine into weak vessels. He is the gentle shepherd who will not overdrive the young ones of the flock.
[00:13:25] That's one thing to learn from that, another thing to learn. It becomes Christians to take notice of the gentleness of Christ in accommodating their trial to their strength.
[00:13:36] They should not magnify their afflictions, meaning we should not make much of our afflictions and how oppressed we are, but should take notice of the mercy that is mixed with them, and should pity those who are called to the fiery trials to resist to blood, not to shed the blood of their enemies, but to seal their testimony with their own blood.
[00:14:01] Thirdly, Christians should be ashamed to faint under less trials when they see others bear up under greater and do not know how soon they may meet with greater themselves.
[00:14:13] Now, you and I have not been called to martyrdom, at least not yet.
[00:14:19] But that does not mean that it is impossible to suffer with Christ even in our circumstances today and this morning. I want you to see more clearly that God is calling you to suffer in your own life.
[00:14:35] First of all, it's important to understand that ordinary earthly suffering actually can be suffering for Christ.
[00:14:44] It may be tempting to think that the ordinary sufferings of the fallen world, sickness, injury, death, death through ordinary means like sickness, can't really be suffering for Christ, can they?
[00:14:58] I mean, it's true that many of the New Testament passages that teach on Christian suffering focus on persecution.
[00:15:07] But we should realize Satan is at work through physical suffering.
[00:15:14] We should realize that what we might call ordinary suffering is an opportunity to suffer for Christ. When we remember that there's a quote from a book called the View from a Hearse by a man named Joe Bailey. This is actually Joseph Bayly grandfather.
[00:15:31] And this really opened up this truth for me. The context of this quote I'm about to read is that he's been talking about the imminent martyrdom of the Apostle Paul when he's in prison in Rome and the martyrdom of Stephen in Acts 7, he says this. He says these illustrations, these examples of martyrdom, are related to the imminent termination of life by violent means through martyrdom.
[00:15:58] It may be objected by some that they do not apply to ordinary sickness and death.
[00:16:04] Yet if Satan attempts to thwart a ministry and shorten a life through sickness, his power and work are at least equally as evident as in martyrdom.
[00:16:16] Attitudes then become comparable, meaning our attitude in death, whether it be through martyrdom or through a more ordinary means, can be an attitude of godliness in Christ and suffering in him or not.
[00:16:32] Now, the clearest scriptural example of Satan wielding ordinary physical suffering as a spiritual weapon against the righteous would be the life of Job.
[00:16:44] Job was targeted because he feared God, and Satan persecuted him with a spiritual intent to get him to curse God.
[00:16:56] Job refused to curse God in the midst of his suffering, and he therefore stands as a lasting testimony to the blessings God pours out on those who persevere under trial. Even trials that don't have anything to do with a human persecut.
[00:17:13] We have the same opportunity in our ordinary sufferings, because no suffering is purely physical.
[00:17:20] There's always a spiritual side to our suffering, and that means God is pleased and honored when we trust him through all kinds of trials, and our faith in Christ is proved to ourselves and to those around us as we endure.
[00:17:37] Listen to the Apostle Peter's words in this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith being more precious than gold, which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
[00:18:02] When we maintain our faith in Christ through weakness and sickness and death, our faith is tested and proved, and so is the worthiness of Christ as the object of our faith.
[00:18:17] Now, perhaps even more encouraging than the example of Job is remembering that Satan weaponized the natural physical weakness of hunger against Jesus when he tempted him in the wilderness.
[00:18:29] And was it not a great spiritual triumph of faith for Jesus to refuse to let hunger drive away his trust in the word of God?
[00:18:39] Man does not live on bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.
[00:18:45] When we think this way, our eyes should be open to the many ways we can persevere and endure and exhibit joy, even in small things like being hungry, even if we haven't fasted for 40 days.
[00:18:59] First Peter 5 says, Be of sober spirit, be on the alert.
[00:19:05] Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour, and Satan is very pleased to use whatever means he can to devour.
[00:19:17] Let us be on the alert and not think that we don't have real spiritual battles to fight when we are hungry, sick, injured, lost, fired.
[00:19:30] Fill in the blank.
[00:19:32] If Satan could use that thing in your life to get you to turn away from God and curse God, then you are being called to suffer for Christ by honoring him in your suffering.
[00:19:45] Listen to these encouraging words about the suffering of Christ from Hebrews 2. This is a longer passage I'm going to read to you that is very important for understanding our fellowship with Christ in him coming to share in our flesh and blood.
[00:20:01] It says it was fitting for him. Now there it's talking about God the Father. It was fitting for God the Father, for whom are all things and through whom are all things in bringing many sons to glory to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings. That's talking about Jesus.
[00:20:20] For both he who sanctifies, that's Christ, and those who are sanctified are all from one Father, for which reason he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will proclaim your name to my brethren.
[00:20:38] In the midst of the congregation, I will sing I and the children whom God and again I will put my trust in him.
[00:20:45] And again behold I and the children whom God has given me. This is Jesus speaking prophetically in the Old Testament, referring to those whom he is saving. The children that God has given to him.
[00:20:59] It says Hebrews. Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, he's talking about how that's what it means to be brothers and sisters in an earthly sense. They share in flesh and blood.
[00:21:12] Since the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise also partook of the same our flesh and blood, that through death he might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is the devil, and might free those who, through fear of death, were subject to slavery all their lives.
[00:21:36] Jesus came to suffer the effects of the fall so that he, by triumphing over them, might finally save us from them.
[00:21:47] And when we suffer the effects of the fall by faith in Christ, proclaiming that he will in the end deliver us from those things we are suffering for and with Christ.
[00:22:02] Now, how can we ensure that we are indeed suffering in a way that brings glory to Christ in these things?
[00:22:09] Well, it's not very complicated. We are to trust God and praise him in your suffering and don't just do so privately in your own heart, but praise the name of Christ to others, telling them how Christ suffered for you.
[00:22:28] Listen to this from Hebrews 12, verse 3. Consider him who has endured such hostility by sinners against himself so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
[00:22:41] Ordinary earthly suffering can be suffering for Christ.
[00:22:46] Now, you must not use that truth to justify an unwillingness to suffer persecution.
[00:22:52] We can't just substitute, oh, being sick, okay, I don't have to be persecuted because I suffer these other things.
[00:23:03] Scripture is very clear.
[00:23:05] All those who desire to be godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. They will be shamed, hated, attacked by others for the name of Christ.
[00:23:16] Now, this does not mean that all Christians will be persecuted in the same way or to the same degree.
[00:23:22] When Jesus told Peter that he was going to be martyred at the end of the Gospel of John, Peter looks at John and says, what about that guy?
[00:23:33] You remember Jesus Response? He says, don't worry about him, you follow me?
[00:23:40] I'm paraphrasing.
[00:23:41] He did really say, you follow me.
[00:23:44] But we all understand Peter's reaction to Jesus telling him he's going to suffer. Oh, what about this guy over here? Is he going to suffer more or less?
[00:23:56] But Jesus words to Peter should instruct us to be very cautious about comparing our suffering to others.
[00:24:02] We don't know what God is going to call our brother to suffer, nor what he is going to call us to suffer.
[00:24:09] And we should be content to follow Christ without getting caught up in comparisons.
[00:24:15] Even the most afflicted martyrs can look to the martyr who came before them and say, well, I didn't really suffer that much. Look at that guy.
[00:24:25] And the godliest martyrs do look at what Christ suffered and say, what is it to suffer shame, even death for Christ who was crucified for me?
[00:24:39] This is to say even the greatest sufferings can feel small and bearable to the saint who has his hope fixed on Christ.
[00:24:48] In fact, the hope filled believer is delighted to suffer for Christ because it is a sign of God's approval of him.
[00:24:56] That's what the Christians say in Acts 5 when they're beaten. They rejoiced because they were considered worthy to suffer shame for the name of Christ.
[00:25:08] Even the Apostle Paul, whom we know suffered very greatly, said, the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing to the glory that is to be revealed to us.
[00:25:20] Even the worst afflictions can feel insignificant when compared with the glories promised to us in Christ.
[00:25:28] Now it can be helpful, I think, to look at those who suffer more than we do, but only if we take the right lessons from it.
[00:25:37] If we're comparing just because we want to feel like we're persecuted, or even worse, just because we want to look in the eyes of others as if we're persecuted, whether or not we are, then comparing ourselves to our more persecuted brethren will do no good.
[00:25:56] Here's what looking at those who suffer more than we do should do.
[00:26:01] It should inspire us to be willing to suffer more for Christ's sake, to be more bold and willing to suffer shame for Christ.
[00:26:12] It should be suffering more than we are.
[00:26:16] It should point us to Christ's suffering and remind us how worthy he is.
[00:26:25] Looking at the suffering of those who suffer more than we do should cause us to thank God for His kindness and gentleness towards us.
[00:26:34] It should lead us to pray earnestly for those who are suffering.
[00:26:41] And it should lead us to consider whether God might be calling us to suffer more for Christ's sake.
[00:26:49] Now some of us might be tempted. This is an aside to compare the other way, to look down on those who haven't suffered as much, or perhaps to envy the one whom we think hasn't had to bear what we've had to bear.
[00:27:06] If that is you, you must look to Christ, who suffered and died for you.
[00:27:13] Do not judge your brother nor envy him.
[00:27:18] You must also understand, if that's you looking down on the little sufferings of others, you can't actually see what God is calling your brother to suffer right now, nor how much of a burden his trials are to him.
[00:27:33] Much of suffering happens on the inside where we can't see it.
[00:27:38] You also don't know what plans God has in store for your brother, what God might be calling him to suffer later.
[00:27:46] And that's important to keep in mind as we consider how much we've suffered. Whether it be much or little. We don't know when God is going to call us to suffer, nor how much.
[00:27:58] Before there were seven years of famine in the land of Egypt, there were seven years of plenty.
[00:28:05] Ecclesiastes reminds us there is a time to mourn and a time to dance, even for those who suffer. It's not as if every moment is filled with suffering, at least not to the same degree.
[00:28:20] The Apostle Paul wasn't always in prison. Even he experienced times of prosperity along the way.
[00:28:28] No Christian experiences a constant level of continual persecution, nor do all churches in all places at all times experience the same amount of persecution.
[00:28:38] And that's okay. It's not in itself a problem.
[00:28:43] It is by God's will that Christians in America can lead relatively peaceful lives. Right now.
[00:28:50] We might need to be ashamed of our unwillingness to suffer for Christ, but we don't need to be ashamed of God's blessing of peace on his people in our country and in our time in history.
[00:29:00] It's actually something Christians are supposed to pray for.
[00:29:05] In 1 Timothy 2 it says, the Apostle Paul writes to Timothy saying, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.
[00:29:24] American Christians have been able to lead a tranquil and quiet life in all Godliness and dignity for many years now.
[00:29:31] That's a blessing from God.
[00:29:34] It may not always be that way, and there are signs that it won't always be that way.
[00:29:40] The question is, what are we going to do with that blessing from God?
[00:29:45] Are we going to forget about God and trust in our riches?
[00:29:50] Are we going to let a love of comfort and ease keep us from speaking the truth boldly to our neighbors?
[00:29:58] Or are we going to use God's blessing of peace to pursue godliness no matter the cost, even if it means giving up everything we have?
[00:30:09] We should ask ourselves, is there more? The Lord might be calling us to suffer for his name's sake.
[00:30:16] It is right to ask if we are simply blessed or if we have in some way shielded ourselves from suffering for Christ.
[00:30:25] We should seek God's will to know if we should be speaking more boldly about Christ and ask God for opportunities to do so, even if it means being hated like he was hated.
[00:30:39] We should seek God's will to know what we and our families might be able to give up for the kingdom of Christ.
[00:30:47] Now, just an example of this. I know affluent American Christians who have chosen to suffer for Christ by giving up their children for the sake of the gospel, by which I mean that they hardly ever get to see their children because they live in faraway places building Christ's kingdom.
[00:31:08] Of course, these godly people would hardly count this as a loss as it brings them great joy to see their children serving the Lord in this way. But from a worldly perspective, it is a great loss to rarely if ever get to see your children in garrison grandchildren and to have them vulnerable to toils and dangers that you can't do anything about.
[00:31:30] Are we raising our children to love Christ so much that they will give their entire lives for building his kingdom? Is that an exciting thought to us that we might lose our children to the spread of the gospel?
[00:31:44] Or are we training our children to store up earthly treasure and build our own name and legacy?
[00:31:53] We should seek God's will to know if there's some way we can bear the burdens of those who are suffering more than we are.
[00:32:02] Sometimes suffering is forced upon us, right? We don't choose it. God takes something away. We experience a loss.
[00:32:09] Something hard comes our way.
[00:32:12] At other times we are called to willingly share in the sufferings of others.
[00:32:17] It's not inherently wrong to be the less persecuted. But here's a question for us. Are we bearing the afflictions of our persecuted brethren in our hearts and praying for them, fasting for them, giving to them.
[00:32:32] Hebrews 13 says, Remember the prisoners as though in prison with them and those who are ill treated, since you yourselves also are in the body.
[00:32:46] In Acts 12 it says, Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the Church of God.
[00:32:55] The church to God.
[00:32:58] 1 Corinthians 12 if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. If one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.
[00:33:08] We can bear the sufferings of our persecuted brethren in other places as our own burdens in our hearts.
[00:33:16] If you feel that you don't suffer much, don't get wrapped up in self loathing.
[00:33:20] Pray for those who are suffering.
[00:33:23] Weep with those who weep. Mourn with those who mourn.
[00:33:28] It's okay that it's not you right now. To the same degree are you willing to choose to bear their burdens with them by praying for them and supporting them with your strength and abundance that God has given to you?
[00:33:43] Bearing the suffering of other parts of Christ's body is one way of truly sharing in the fellowship of Christ's sufferings.
