Suffering With Him

 

Suffering 2

 

          Last week, we began an intensive study of suffering in the Word of God. Although we instinctively seek to avoid it, we could almost say that suffering is the human condition, and has been since the Garden of Eden. Cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground. (Genesis 3.17-19)

          In suffering, as in so many other things, the Christian perspective is exactly opposite the perspective of the natural man. Paul expresses mature Christianity when he says in Philippians 3 that he desires to know Christ and experience the deep intimate fellowship with Him that comes with suffering.

          In today’s post, I want to give you two thoughts that flow from this understanding. First, this sweetly intimate fellowship with Him is found in suffering.

Fellowship is something we usually associate with a good time. I grew up in church. From the time I can remember, I looked forward to church fellowships. That was the term our pot-luck or carry-in dinners was called by – a fellowship. Here in Iowa, I found the same thing. Good food plus the enjoyable company of God’s people equals fellowship.

I understand that Philippians is the epistle of rejoicing, but that rejoicing was not Paul enjoying good food in the company of God’s people. It was Paul, in the midst of deep personal suffering, finding joy in God alone. We must never forget that the joy Paul experienced here was not found in the absence of suffering; no, he tasted that joy from the bowels of a Roman dungeon because he found sweet fellowship with Christ in his suffering.

The simple truth is the normal Christian life is a suffering life. The sufferings of Christ abound in us. (II Corinthians 1.5) [I] rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh. (Colossians 1.24) Rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. (I Peter 4.13) Contrary to what Joel Osteen heretically asserts, God did not call you to be healthy, happy, and rich. He called you to partake of His sufferings, to walk ever more closely with Him as you endure that suffering.

The maturity and cost of Paul’s prayer staggers me. Paul wanted Christ even if the price was massive pain. And God answered Paul’s prayer here, did He not? …in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;  In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. (II Corinthians 11.23-28) Not to mention, Paul’s life would end at the hands of Nero’s executioners.

At the same time, who can deny that Paul knew Christ, and knew His power in a way perhaps no other human being ever has? Gather a hundred orthodox theologians, and ninety of them will postulate that Paul was perhaps the greatest Christian to ever live. It cannot be a coincidence that Paul also knew the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings as well.

Having dwelt upon the cost first let me now show you the benefit. Second, suffering with Him brought Paul into intimate fellowship with Christ. We suffer, not just for Him, but with Him. Together. 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. (Romans 8.17)

A simplistic yet accurate definition of fellowship is two fellows in the same ship. They have the exact same set of circumstances i.e. weather, current, condition of the boat, food available, etc. Everything that happens to one of them also happens to the other. If the ship is torpedoed, both of them go into the water. If the ship comes into port safely, they both arrive on shore. In the original language, the root word is partner or common, and is defined as share, intimacy, communion.

There is very little that produces a genuinely deep relationship together more than common suffering. Football players develop intense bonds because they endure the heat of an August practice field together, and the joint struggle against fierce opposition to overcome the other team. A soldier who spends nine months in combat will forever remain close to the men with whom he served.

Mandy and I have our lives so intermingled at this point it would be well-nigh impossible to sever them. Why? We stood in the snow of a December hill side and buried a daughter together. We served a tiny church in a fly-speck Pennsylvania town together. We endured sixteen years in inner-city Chicago together. We have parented three children, with all of the accompanying pressure and stress, together. We have fought Meniere’s disease for twelve years together. We have been through the wars, together. She held up her end of the load and I held up mine. I trust her and she trusts me. We have fought, clawed, scratched, bled, worked, and cried, together. We have been slandered, criticized, attacked, misunderstood, and ignored, together. Along the way we discovered something: where there once was two the heat of battle has forged us into one.

Paul wanted to know Him. If so, he had to be willing to pay the price of suffering together with Him. It hurts to say it, beloved, but there is no other way into a truly sweet and deeply intimate relationship with God Himself.

As a teenager, I yielded myself to the Lord and He took me into loneliness. As a young adult, I yielded myself to the Lord and He took me into pain. As a young pastor, I yielded myself to the Lord and He took me into failure. As a young husband, I yielded myself to the Lord and He took me into death. As a maturing man, I yielded myself to the Lord and He took me into disease. As a middle-aged man, I yielded myself to Him and He took me into frustration. Truth be told, now I find myself weeping often for entirely different reasons than any that have gone before. But He has been with me in each of them as we two fellows in the same ship developed a rich relationship.

If you want deep fellowship with Him you must go through the door of suffering. But He will be with you in it. And you two will grow very close through it.