Outside the Camp

In parts one and two we looked at some of the phys­i­cal ways that a Chris­t­ian may suf­fer for the sake of Jesus. Things such as ver­bal and phys­i­cal assaults, fam­ily rejec­tion, and even mar­tyr­dom are all pos­si­ble con­se­quence for claim­ing Jesus. Typ­i­cally such occur­rences will be rare events in our life­time; yet, Jesus says that we must daily lift up our cross and fol­low him. (Luke 9:23) In the final part to this series we will look at what daily cross-carrying may look like. After­ward we will con­clude by exam­in­ing the impor­tant rea­sons why we are called to suf­fer as a Christian.

Hard­ships from Obey­ing Christ

Lov­ing Jesus requires that we remain faith­ful to his com­mands. (John 14:15) Some­times being obe­di­ent to the teach­ings of Jesus may bring dif­fi­cult cir­cum­stances lead­ing to suf­fer­ing.  For exam­ple, in his teach­ing Jesus restricted divorce to times when infi­delity occurs. (Mark 10:1–12) Yet today among nom­i­nal Chris­tians the divorce rate is prac­ti­cally indis­tinct from the rest of the world. Mar­riages rou­tinely end with the part­ners express­ing minor quib­bles and claim­ing gen­eral incom­pat­i­bil­ity. On the other hand, some might choose to endure a dif­fi­cult mar­riage in obe­di­ence to Jesus teach­ing. They might even view such suf­fer­ing a small thing when com­pared to the bru­tal per­se­cu­tion their broth­ers and sis­ters in the faith have suf­fered in times past.

What about in mat­ters of employ­ment and income? Jesus taught his fol­low­ers to be hon­est, to avoid tak­ing false oaths, and to be truth­ful. (Matthew 5:37) Today in busi­ness, dis­hon­esty is often accepted even desired by employ­ers. Uphold­ing the val­ues of Christ may lead some Chris­tians to will­ingly take the loss of a job. Fur­ther, putting to prac­tice Jesus’ coun­sel to lead a sim­ple life free of greed and the love of money may call for us to give up some of the com­forts of this world in order to serve oth­ers. (Matthew 6:19–24: 19:21)

Prior to his cru­ci­fix­ion, Jesus instructed his dis­ci­ples to love one another just as he had loved them. (John 13:34) While this instruc­tion looks for­ward toward his own death for many, it also looks back­ward toward his own pat­tern of lov­ing, con­tin­ual self-sacrifice on behalf of oth­ers. To the Philip­pi­ans Paul writes,

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not con­sider it rob­bery to be equal with God, but made Him­self of no rep­u­ta­tion, tak­ing the form of a bond­ser­vant, and com­ing in the like­ness of men. And being found in appear­ance as a man, He hum­bled Him­self and became obe­di­ent to the point of death, even the death of the cross. — Philip­pi­ans 2:5–8

Paul here calls to mind the exam­ple set by Jesus in for­sak­ing his high place to come to serve oth­ers and encour­ages all who are now in Christ to have this same mind­set. Part of car­ry­ing our cross each day involves sub­mit­ting our­selves in ser­vice to the needs of oth­ers. Man­i­fest­ing such self­less­ness is not always easy and can bring a cer­tain degree of dis­com­fort if not tribulation.

The Divine Pur­pose of Chris­t­ian Suffering

After dis­cussing the var­i­ous ways that we may have to suf­fer as a Chris­t­ian we have to ask, is there a point to it? Yes, it is nec­es­sary and ben­e­fi­cial in bring­ing us into the image of Christ. It is writ­ten, “For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suf­fer for His sake” (Phil 1:29) As a fol­lower of Christ, Paul expressed his heart­felt desire to know Jesus by shar­ing in suf­fer­ing. (Phil 3:10) By suf­fer­ing for his sake, dis­ci­ples of Jesus can really come to know him.

Such suf­fer­ing is essen­tial in bring­ing forth the good for us. At Romans 8:28 Paul writes, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called accord­ing to His pur­pose.” When we are faced with suf­fer­ing it may be an “unfore­seen occur­rence” to us, but it is not a chance hap­pen­ing from the per­spec­tive of Sov­er­eign God. God uses all things, good and bad, for his ulti­mate pur­pose in bring­ing many sons to glory. It is writ­ten, “In bring­ing many sons to glory, it was fit­ting that God, for whom and through whom every­thing exists, should make the author of their sal­va­tion per­fect through suf­fer­ing. ” (Hebrews 2:10)

Here Jesus is referred to as “the author of [our] sal­va­tion”. Was there a point to Jesus’ suf­fer­ing? While his death was tragic and unwar­ranted it was nec­es­sary, cer­tainly with a view toward redemp­tion, but also in another way. Hebrews fur­ther com­ments that Jesus, “learned obe­di­ence by the things which He suf­fered.” Through his suf­fer­ing Jesus was, “made per­fect”. (Hebrews 5:8, 9) The Greek word here trans­lated “per­fect” means to com­plete, to fin­ish. James uses the same to express the ben­e­fits of our own suf­fer­ing. He writes, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into var­i­ous tri­als, know­ing that the test­ing of your faith pro­duces patience. But let patience have its per­fect work, that you may be per­fect and com­plete, lack­ing noth­ing.” (James 1:2–4) In order for us to be made per­fect and com­plete we too will have to learn obe­di­ence through var­i­ous tri­als that are brought to us. It builds vital qual­i­ties such as endurance which is imper­a­tive in our sal­va­tion. (Matthew 24:13)

Con­sider that the fruitage of the Spirit includes such qual­i­ties such as kind­ness, joy, patience, gen­tle­ness, and self-control. (Gal 5:22–23) With­out tri­als how can we expe­ri­ence patience and peace? How can we expe­ri­ence gen­tle­ness and self-control with­out trou­ble in per­sonal rela­tions? How can we expe­ri­ence love and kind­ness with­out putting our­selves out to serve oth­ers? In the face of early per­se­cu­tions, the dis­ci­ples were able to expe­ri­ence unpar­al­leled joy! (Acts 13:52)

Under­go­ing per­sonal suf­fer­ing affords us an oppor­tu­nity, not only to expe­ri­ence per­sonal growth but also to expe­ri­ence the deep joy that comes from serv­ing Jesus. When we suf­fer as a Chris­t­ian we share the same expe­ri­ences that Jesus endured and this draws us closer to him. Sub­mit­ting to tri­als on behalf of Jesus and oth­ers brings forth the per­fect fruit of love. Our Heav­enly Father uses these times for our ulti­mate good, cre­at­ing in us, a more com­plete and glo­ri­ous man­i­fes­ta­tion of Jesus. (Col 1:27) In con­clu­sion it is good to con­sider the words of Peter:

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a lit­tle while, if need be, you have been grieved by var­i­ous tri­als, that the gen­uine­ness of your faith, being much more pre­cious than gold that per­ishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the rev­e­la­tion of Jesus Christ — 1 Peter 1:6–8