The Suffering of God

 

Suffering 5

         

 

          Four centuries before the birth of Christ, Aristophanes wrote the play, “The Frogs.” The Greeks back in the day were lovers of good theater. In the play, the god Dionysius and his slave, Xanthius, are traveling through Hades in order to resurrect a dead poet. As traveling companions sometimes do, they get into an argument and both claim to be gods. To settle the argument they establish a test. They will both endure a flogging; the first one to flinch is not a god.

          The idea conveyed here is a very human one: to be God is to be above pain, sorrow, and suffering. This idea is fed in the Christian orbit by our understanding of the permanent Heaven; it is a place with no death, no tears, and no sorrow. And it will be. But that permanent Heaven does not exist yet. And the present Heaven is the home of the God who has suffered and still does suffer abundantly.

          Theologically, the concept that God does not suffer is labeled the impassibility of God. It argues that because God is entirely self-contained He cannot be influenced by any external force or power. After all, if God is all-powerful, eternal, unchanging, and transcendent He cannot suffer just like He cannot sin.

          I think this theological concept does an injustice to God. Yes, He is all-powerful, eternal, unchanging, and transcendent. We learn these things in the Bible. Foundationally, the Bible is the revelation of God. And that revelation shows us a God who suffers deeply. I accept that God is all-powerful, that He cannot be damaged, but it does not then follow that He is impervious to feeling, an emotionless, remote being. No, everything I read about God in the Scripture screams that He is not untouched by suffering, that He is not unaffected by anything outside of Himself. He is sovereign, but it does not then follow that He is apathetic.

What proof do I offer that this is so, that God indeed suffers? If suffering is loss I would first argue that God has suffered tremendous loss in His relationships. One of His first and most intimate of relationships was with Lucifer. He was the greatest of His first creation, the angels. They worked together in sweet harmony for untold millennia. Then the devil turned on God. The Father was forced to kick him out of Heaven, and that deep, long-held relationship was shattered irreparably. Along with that loss, and directly because of it, the Father lost His human creation, man. The gulf that now exists between humanity and God is so vast it took the cross to span it. Open the pages of your Bible and read of Hosea and Gomer, a life story designed to reveal the intimate pain in the relationship between God and Israel, and tell me God does not suffer. Look at Christ hanging on the tree between two thieves, hanging there because of us and for us, and tell me God does not suffer. As Stuart Townsend said so well,

                           How deep the Father’s love for us,

How vast beyond all measure

That He should give His only Son

And make a wretch His treasure.

How great the pain of searing loss.

The Father turns His face away,

As wounds which mar the chosen One

Bring many sons to glory. 

          If suffering is loss, I would argue, second, that sin causes the Father to suffer. The hordes of humanity produce mountains of sin, and it grieves Him endlessly. And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. (Genesis 6.5-6) Go ahead. Try to tell me that was only before the Flood, that He is not now grieved likewise by the enormity and plentitude of sin. In the original language, “grieved” here means hurt, emotionally pained. Its root is the same as that for the word “lament.” He suffered then and He suffers now.

          My third argument finds it source in that very word lament. Lament is a deeper idea than mere complaint. It is the expression of a being scarred deeply by loss, by pain, by suffering. Lament is what Job pours out. Lament is what the psalmist hurls at God. And God Himself uses this language of lament, the same kind of language that Job and David used. When Israel made the awful decision not to enter Canaan following the spies return The Lord said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? And how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them? …How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me? (Numbers 14.11, 27)

          No, beloved, it is a grievous calumny against God to assert He does not suffer. Yes, He is all-powerful and cannot be damaged, but suffering is not the same as weakness. To say suffering is the same as weakness is to take a Darwinian view of the matter. Suffering can come through being weak, through being victimized, but it can come outside of those means too. God is not weak, no, but He does suffer. He can be affected by us, by our decision to turn every one to his own way (Isaiah 53.6), to embrace the sin His nature so abhors.

          Do you know why God hurts? He hurts because He loves. To love is to open yourself up. It is to lower the natural barriers between yourself and another person. It is to trust them, to invite them into yourself, into your life, your heart, your soul. It is to lower your defenses and invite another life into the center of your own. To love is to make yourself vulnerable, to open yourself up to joy and at the same time to risk pain. You cannot love without being hurt, without suffering loss, without suffering. The only way to protect yourself from that hurt is to remain detached, uninvolved, uncaring, unloving, aloof from it all. Does that last sentence sound anything like the God revealed in the pages of Holy Writ? Ten thousand times, no! God loves deeper than anyone you have ever met – which means God suffers deeper than anyone you have ever met.

          The saddest verse in the saddest book of the Bible just might be Jeremiah 13.17. Although the flow of thought is somewhat confusing, I believe God is speaking here. Listen to the raw grief of these words. But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride; and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the Lord’s flock is carried away captive.

          You are not alone in your suffering, beloved.

          He suffers too.

Grace for Suffering

Suffering 4

Note: From time to time, as we proceed through this series on suffering, I am going to bring you the stories of some people who have suffered, stories written in their own words. Today's post is by Ben Sinclair. He has served as a missionary in Cameroon for two decades. He writes here of what his family endured around the death of fellow missionary Charles Wesco in 2018. The Sinclair family returned full time to church planting in Cameroon in 2021. 

_________________________________________________________________________________

My family and I have been church planting missionaries to Africa for over twenty years. God has incredibly blessed us. Several years ago, we began earnestly praying that God would send us coworkers in order to further the work of the ministry on our field. In 2015, we met Charles and Stephanie Wesco. God knit our hearts and called them to labor with us in Cameroon.

During the Wescos’ deputation ministry, two of the ten regions in Cameroon made a declaration of independence, and a civil war ensued. The dangers were real, and the noise of gun battles was common. We sought the Lord for direction. We sought godly counsel. After weeks of praying, fasting, and making every preparation and policy possible to minister in a war-torn nation as safely as possible, God confirmed that He wanted us to remain in Cameroon preaching the Gospel and making disciples (Matthew 10:16).

The Wescos had to prayerfully make their decision as well. In obedience to God, Charles Wesco boarded a plane with his wife and eight children in October 2018. I was thrilled to pick them up at the airport and to welcome them “home” to Cameroon.

Just twelve days after their arrival, the unthinkable happened. On a routine trip to town, we were attacked. Brother Charles was mortally wounded by the first gunshot and was pronounced dead at the hospital. Stephanie, Charles Jr., and I were supernaturally protected and escaped from the gunshots and flying glass without even a scratch. Unexplainably, Stephanie’s window did not break from the shotgun blasts, and she walked away from the attack, though drenched from head to toe in her husband’s blood, physically uninjured. The shot headed toward me in the driver’s seat embedded in the windshield but did not pass through. The shot that passed by Brother Charles riddled his son’s seat and headrest, but Charles Jr. left the car unscathed.

As you can only imagine, we were all devastated. The military escorted our team out of the region the next day. We accompanied Stephanie and the children back to Indiana to be with her family. The suffering, doubts, and fears were terrible. We had to leave our friends, neighbors, and ministries with little more than the clothes on our backs. We did not even get to say goodbye to those with whom we had ministered, loved, and invested for so many years.

I kept blaming myself for praying for coworkers. I blamed myself for inviting the Wescos. I questioned what I could have done preceding the attack to prevent it. The nightmares were also awful. I hated going to sleep. I would wake up reliving the attack or imagining the shooters returning for me and my family time and time again.

So what happened? What did we do? We returned to our home church in Tennessee. I remember driving into the driveway of a mission house in Chattanooga. I turned around in my seat, looked at my family, and said, “I’m going to be honest with you. I have no idea what is next for us. I don’t know how long we will be staying here or where we are going next. But I promise you this. If you keep trusting and following your father, I will keep seeking, following, and trusting my Father.”

I found grace in seeking the Lord every day. Even though I was a broken man, I thank God for His precious promise to those humble and contrite enough to seek Him in their brokenness. David wrote, “The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit” (Psalm 34:18). We had our ups and downs, to be sure. However, the most significant help came from those intimate times with the Lord each morning in His Word and prayer. Healing gradually came to our family as we gathered around the coffee table each evening for family discipleship. We read, prayed, sang, and cried together in the presence of the Balm of Gilead.

I found grace in good music. I never doubted that God was real or present during those dark days, but I did argue and fight with Him. One day I was meditating on the words of a song by Ron Hamilton. It states,

I could not see through the shadows ahead;

So I looked at the cross of my Savior instead.

I bowed to the will of the Master that day;

Then peace came and tears fled away.

O Rejoice in the LORD

He makes no mistake,

He knoweth the end of each path that I take,

For when I am tried

And purified,

I shall come forth as gold.

 

I realized then that I had not bowed my will to the Master. I had taken responsibility for Brother Wesco’s death on myself. I humbly bowed my heart and confessed that I am not big, strong, or even stupid and incompetent enough to mess up God’s plan. God had a will for all of us that day. He accomplished His will despite me. The tears still flow freely from time to time, but I can honestly say with the author of the song “peace came.” I began to rejoice in the assurance that “He makes no mistake, He knoweth the end of each path that I take.” Biblical, spiritual music ministered to my soul.

I found grace in supportive friends. Of course, there were critics who said that Brother Wesco and I were fools for taking our families into a war zone in obedience to the Great Commission (Mark 16:15). Thankfully, there were many more who assured us of their love and prayers. God used believers to minister to us and to encourage us with messages and gifts. It amazes me how people going through trials often drop out of church and avoid their Christian brothers and sisters. The body of Christ was a huge help in our healing process! God also specifically used my pastor and our field administrator to listen and minister to our family.

I mentioned the nightmares. For literally months, I experienced nightmares on and off. Finally, I told a close friend who pastors one of our supporting churches that I was suffering from these reoccurring nightmares. After an evening service, he called for the men of the church to join us in a side room for a special prayer time. The men of the church surrounded me, placed their hands on my shoulders, and earnestly, tearfully prayed for my family and me. The pastor lifted his voice and asked God to deliver me from my nightmares – and He did. That prayer meeting was nearly three years ago. I can count on the fingers of one hand how many times I have woken up from nightmares since then. I thank God for friends willing to pray, encourage, sacrifice, sit with, and love those who are suffering.

I found grace in obediently serving the Lord. I vividly remember sitting on the plane as we flew back to the United States, asking the Lord, “What are You doing? You called me to be a missionary to Cameroon. Why am I on a plane flying back to the U.S.? What do You want me to do in America? God put a burden on my heart to take the testimony of Brother Wesco across America. For the next year, I preached more than 100 times in churches, schools, and Bible colleges in Maine and Florida in the East to California in the West. God saved souls. God called scores of people to missions, and God specifically called more than 20 people to step up and fill the gap in Cameroon. The first missionary family to join the ministry in Cameroon is presently on deputation. Praise the Lord!

I found grace in being thankful for my suffering. Paul wrote to the suffering, persecuted, impoverished church in Philippi. “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God” (Philippians 4:6). Bring your burdens to God with thanksgiving? Does God expect us to thank Him for our suffering? Yes. He does.

Months after we were attacked and Brother Wesco was killed, I sat at a missions conference listening to the keynote speaker. I asked the Lord, “What am I doing at this conference? I am not preaching, and this is not one of our supporting churches.” I thought I was there to minister, but I learned that God brought me there to be ministered to. During that message, the Holy Spirit convicted me about being thankful for the tragedy that impacted our family and ministry. I had thanked God in my prayers for how He was using Brother Wesco’s death for His glory, but God wanted me to come to Him with genuine, sincere gratitude for our suffering.

I argued with God. “How can I thank you for that horrific event? How can I thank you for leaving Stephanie a widow and her eight children fatherless? How can I thank you for forcing us to leave the place and the ministry where we raised our family and invested the best years of our lives? How can I thank you for the death of my friend and coworker?” Because He said to thank Him. That’s the Christian’s duty. Believe what He says to believe, and do what He says to do (trust and obey) – despite your circumstances and feelings.

Even though I was a missionary at that conference, I was one of the first to my knees during the invitation to pour out my heart to God in prayer and supplication. I genuinely thanked God for the suffering! I immediately experienced “the peace of God, which passeth all understanding.” God promised that when you bring your burdens to Him with thanksgiving, He “shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7). What a powerful promise! God’s deep and enduring peace comes to thankful hearts.

I confess that my suffering is small when compared to others. I am, however, thankful that God’s grace and presence are available to every suffering saint – no matter the degree of suffering. Suffering is a part of life in this broken world. Nevertheless, grace is available through Jesus Christ to all, and glory is His goal.

“But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.” (1 Peter 5:10-11)

Fourteen Sufferings Rolled Into One

 

Suffering 3

 

          One of the unvarnished laws of teaching is the law of language: the language of the teacher and the student have to be the same. This is true of English, in the case of this blog, but it is even more true of the various shades of meaning of words. “Laser” implies something different to a nine-year old Star Wars fan than to a fifty-five year old physicist.

Words mean things; they have context. In reference to spiritual things, the better I understand that context, the larger sense of meaning behind the word and how it is being used, the more I will understand the things God intended to tell me in His Word. Ergo, in any thematic study of Scripture I attempt to come to a sound understanding of the term/concept under examination.

The word “suffer” is found 161 times in the King James Version. Most of the time it means allow, let, or permit, as in the first use, Genesis 20.6. And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her. Though this represents the majority, there are also numerous uses in both the Old and New Testament that relate specifically to what you and I understand as suffering. In the OT, most often this carries the connotation carry, wait, and starve. In the NT, most often this carries the connotation endure or bear. In the original language, the underlying words translated “suffer” are also translated as thirst, took away, cast off, hunger, famished, destitute, bear, bare, carry, endure, forbear, vexed, felt, passion, leave, left, forsook, affliction, persecution, wronged, injured, and reviled. The underlying original language sense of these words is described variously as suffer ruin, suffer pain, suffer punishment, suffer together, misery, suffer evil, labor pains, suffer loss, suffer violence, and to hurt.

Confining our attention only to the underlying original language words translated as some form of the word “suffer” in the King James Version we will discover there are fourteen of them. In today’s post, I am going to briefly show you all fourteen, and then summarize them into a single, understandable, biblical definition of suffering. For simplicity’s sake, I am going to transliterate these original language words into English.

In the Old Testament, there are two. The first is raeb, to hunger, be famished. Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep; And an idle soul shall suffer hunger. (Proverbs 19.15) This is the idea of suffering because you are missing something or lacking something. It can include food, certainly, but it can be many things i.e. a widow suffering the lack of a companion, etc.

The second Old Testament term is nasa, to lift, carry, bear. O Lord, thou knowest: remember me, and visit me, and revenge me of my persecutors; take me not away in thy longsuffering: know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke. (Jeremiah 15.15) The idea here is of carrying a burden over the long term. Jeremiah, known as the Weeping Prophet, had a ministry that consisted of decades of consecutive suffering. Moses endured Israel’s murmuring in the Wilderness for forty years. This is the kind of suffering those with chronic health conditions or a long term bad marriage endure. It is also worth mentioning, that by implication, this is something God has given me to carry. It is not something I have chosen for myself by my direct choice or indirect choice (consequences).

The other twelve terms are in the New Testament. There we find, third, pascho, to experience pain, to be vexed. From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. (Matthew 16.21) Pain here can be both physical or psychological pain.

It is worth noting before we move on that suffering and pain are not synonymous necessarily. One of the books I read in preparation for this series told the story of a young Jewish soldier whose leg was blown off via a mine. The soldier, a woman, was interviewed shortly afterward in the hospital. Weeping, she described her deep sorrow at the realization she would almost certainly now never get married. Her physical pain was real, but her underlying suffering, though connected to it, was much deeper.

Fourth is mello, a strengthened form of expect, this is my duty or purpose. But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them. (Matthew 17.12) This is similar to the Old Testament nasa. This is suffering under a long term load it is your duty to carry. If I were to describe pastoring, for example, I would probably use this word.

Fifth is anechomai, to endure. Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me. (Matthew 17.17) Sometimes, all you can do is grit your teeth. Sometimes, all you can do is put one foot in front of the other. Something has gone so badly and irretrievably wrong, and you are so deeply hurt that your response has been reduced to merely hanging on. You do not feel as if you are learning anything or gaining anything. You do not feel like it will ever get any better. You feel trapped in a horror movie and all you know how to do is keep-moving-forward. This is anechomai.

Sixth is sumpascho, to experience pain together. You can see the relation to our third term above. I used this passage last week. 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) This is a mutual suffering we are experiencing together. Carrying grief and sorrow and suffering alone is debilitating; having someone come alongside and carry it with you, even if it does not lessen the suffering, helps. In our context, this is the premise of support groups or their more biblical equivalent, churches.

Here let us pause for a beautiful thought. Other than suffering related to my rebellion and sin, as a child of God all my suffering is sumpascho. He is with me in it.

Seventh is pathema, to undergo hardship or affliction. 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. (Romans 8.18) Yesterday morning, after reading my Bible on the bench outside my window, I texted a preacher friend to tell him I was praying for him. He responded, “Thank you. Its been a long week and I appreciate it.” Some things are just hard, some seasons in life are just hard. They are temporary, but hard.

Eighth is zemioo, to receive damage, to suffer loss. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. (I Corinthians 3.15) This is similar to our first term, the Hebrew raeb, which is to suffer because you lack something. You had what you needed but it was taken from you. This is the suffering of victims, and there are all kinds of victims i.e. crime, abuse, disaster, etc. Sometimes, it is just life that takes things away from you. Old age robs us of family, of friends, of health, of our independence, for example. In this particular passage, it is God that is doing the taking away.

He does that a lot.

Ninth is stego, to cover with silence, in other words, to endure quietly. If others be partakers of this power over you, are not we rather? Nevertheless we have not used this power; but suffer all things, lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ. (I Corinthians 9.12) Mature Christians do not generally broadcast their suffering; they endure quietly. This is not stoicism; it is resignation. This is “God sent it to me and I accept it.”

By definition, this kind of suffering is rarely noticed. I can almost guarantee that every good Christian of your acquaintance is experiencing it. They are bleeding on the inside silently.

Tenth is dioko, persecution. And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? Then is the offence of the cross ceased. (Galatians 5.11) This is suffering specifically because of my belief and practice. Peter expands on this superbly in his first epistle.

Eleventh is thlibo, to crowd, a host of afflictions. For verily, when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation; even as it came to pass, and ye know. (I Thessalonians 3.4) Troubles comes in packs. The psalmist said, and notice the plural, Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: All thy waves and thy billows are gone over me. (Psalm 42.7)

This is why tribulation is a good word here. At any given time, several people I pastor are in this predicament. They do not have one grievously heavy burden; they have several. Each one would be enough to stagger the average Christian, but God is pressing them, developing them, driving them deeper into Himself by layering burden on top of burden on top of burden.

Twelfth is oneidizo, to defame, revile, rail. For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe. (I Timothy 4.10) Reviling is different than persecution. They both cause us to endure suffering, but reviling is only verbal. It still hurts, and understandably so, but the distinction is worth noting.

Thirteenth is hupomeno, to stay under, abide, persevere with the idea of patience. If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us. (II Timothy 2.12) This is similar to five, anechomai, endure. This is a suffering that I live in, that abides. The difference between this and anechomai is the stress is placed here upon patience under suffering. Good pastoring and good barbecue both take time. In exactly this way, God holds us in suffering for extended seasons, sometimes our entire lives, that the beautiful image of Christ may be formed in us.

Fourteenth is sugkakoucheo, to torment. Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. (Hebrews 11.25) God is referencing Moses here, and by extension the Jews in Egypt. The pharaohs were purposely inflicting pain and suffering on them as a form of institutional ethnic control. The Chinese government is doing exactly this with the Uyghurs at the moment. It is the epitome of injustice, and God hears the cries of those so afflicted.

We could spend several more weeks examining the biblical synonyms for suffering. By one count I read, there are nineteen distinct Hebrew terms related to suffering in Isaiah 53, for example. But I think we can fairly summarize all of this in one relatively simple definition: suffering is loss.

Sometimes, I lose bodily strength. Other times, I lose peace of mind. I lose freedom. I lose choice. I lose comfort. I lose strength. I lose happiness. I lose people I love. I lose health. I lose success or accomplishment. I lose the respect of others. I lose my desire for life. I lose ease. I lose possessions or money. I lose attention. I lose love. I lose the future. I lose my life. I lose Heaven. Illustrate suffering any way you want, biblically or practically, the result is the same – loss.

You cannot live life without suffering, without experiencing loss. Since the Garden of Eden this has been so and will be until the advent of the New Heaven and the New Earth. No, you cannot live without suffering, but understanding that helps you to accept it. Accepting it helps you to deal with it.

Like the life it always comes along with, suffering can be spent well or spent badly. It is going to come; it is inevitable. Yet man is born to trouble, As the sparks fly upward. (Job 5.7) We do, though, get to choose how to respond to it. We can spend it well or spend it badly.

May the Lord give you and me the grace and wisdom to respond well.

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.

This Treasured Fellowship

 

Suffering 1

 

Philippians 3:7–14

But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

          We are forward in time from the founding of the church at Philippi some twelve years. Paul has continued to travel, to plant churches, to write, and to train preachers. In an effort to reach out to the Jews he had (unwisely perhaps) traveled to Jerusalem to partake of some ceremonial observances. The ensuing riot required a Roman cohort to “rescue” him and keep him in custody until right/wrong could be ascertained. Finally, after years of waiting for a judgment, Paul appealed personally to Caesar Nero and was transferred to a prison in Rome.

          While in prison he is “counting”; he is weighing the sum and substance of his former life prior to Christ – the academic and professional success, the plaudits, perhaps a trainee member of the Sanhedrin, an esteemed Pharisee, a practically flawless follower of the Torah – against what he has now. What does he have now? He has a handful of churches started, a few preachers trained, and a couple of letters circulating among them. He is also experiencing the loss of all of his former glory, and his current predicament in a Roman prison.

          Think of a scale or a balance. One side contains his accomplishments prior to Christ. One side contains what he has now.

But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,

          As he counts it up, as he weighs it in the balance, he does not mind the loss of everything on the unsaved side of the scale. Why? Because on this side of the scale he has Christ.

          He is not, however, satisfied with merely having Christ. He wants more than just salvation. He wants to be drawn further into Christ. He wants to experience a growing, intimate relationship with the risen Lord.

          To this end, he lists four things he is currently pursuing, things he wants to add to this side of the scale. 1) That I may know him. 2) And the power of His resurrection. 3) And the fellowship of his sufferings. 4) That I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended.

          His final reckoning or counting tells him to move forward, to pursue growing in grace and knowledge and experience with Christ. (Philippians 3.13-14)

          I want to draw your attention to the third item Paul mentions on his list of things he is pursuing with his life: the fellowship of his sufferings.

          Jesus knew what it was like to suffer.

When we hear this, our mind always rushes first to Calvary, but Scripture tells us He suffered many things. (Matthew 16.21, Mark 8.31, 9.12, Luke 9.22, 17.25). He suffered the loss of Heaven. He suffered as all humans suffer, enduring the difficulties and struggles of life. He suffered being misunderstood by every single person he ever met, including those closest to Him. He suffered as only those who are superior suffer when they are forced to constantly put up with their inferiors. He suffered the constant presence of sin in the people around Him. He suffered criticism and attack even though He only ever did good. He suffered rejection at the hands of His own people. Most of all, yes, He suffered the cross – the emotional agony leading up to it, the physical torture of it, the familial shame of it, taking all our sin upon Himself, the loss of His Father’s fellowship, and through this all of our eternal hell.

Now, Paul says this is what he is pursuing. Not avoiding, pursuing, purposely seeking to add to his side of the scale.

As humans, we are instinctively dedicated to avoiding or at least minimizing suffering. We cushion all of our chairs, include built-in footrests with them, and use power buttons to position them for our maximum comfort. We rarely walk when we can drive or ride. The global mattress industry is worth $81 billion. Casual Fridays have become endemic to the entire week. In America, our system of higher education (and increasingly, of lower education) dedicates “safe spaces” where students can be theoretically free from anything that might trouble them. Medically, we have incorporated treatment not just of the disease or problem but of the pain that results from it. “On a scale of one to ten, how much pain are you experiencing?” This pain treatment is a $100 billion industry itself, and the opioid epidemic it has spun off is devasting hundreds of thousands of people.  

Paul had grown beyond this instinctive avoidance of anything unpleasant. He saw in Christ’s suffering something eminently beautiful and desirable. Nor was he alone in this as he grew in grace; Peter saw the same thing. For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow in his steps (I Peter 2.21). We are called to it. In the original language called implies we have been summoned to accept the responsibilities of a particular task.

All of us suffer. It is a part, and a large part of life. In this blog series, I want to examine what the Bible says about that large part of our life. What is it, biblically? How should we view it? How should we react to it? Why should we still view God as good in spite of it? How does it impact our service for the Lord? How does it impact our sanctification? What is the right way to respond to it, personally? What are the wrong ways?

I have spent the last several years, on and off, preparing to write this series. I have examined every use of the word “suffer” in the Bible, both in English and in the original languages. For dozens of hours, I have studied the great books on suffering, I Peter and Job. I have read about 1,500 pages of other men’s studies on the subject. (see note below) And I have suffered, personally; I have experienced the subject like every person reading this has experienced it.

I have loved and lost. I have been criticized and misunderstood. I have struggled with poverty and failure. I have been lonely. I have buried a child. I have carried the burden of the pastorate for 1,300 consecutive weeks, twenty-five years exactly as of yesterday. I have endured a significant and worsening debilitating disease for twelve years. I have sinned, and been forced to live with the consequences, both of my own and of other’s sins. And most of you reading this have carried all that I have carried, if not more, in your own unique way.

The older I get, the more I want to stop fighting against it. I want, along with Paul and Peter and Job and Jesus, to accept it. Indeed, I want to learn to embrace it. I want to change the paradigm from enduring to treasuring. I want to see in it what God sees in it. I want to value it as God values it. I want to see God use it in my life to accomplish the advancement of the cause of Christ, the edification of the saints, and the glorification of His name.

I want, in short, to be like Jesus.

For the next seven or eight months on this blog we are going to explore this topic. Along the way, Lord willing, we will hear from some other people who have suffered deeply. We will learn how they responded to it, rightly or wrongly, and how the Lord used it in their lives. Some posts will be logical, some theological, some emotional, but hopefully all of them will be edifying.

I invite you to join me. Together, let us seek treasured fellowship. Indeed, I hope you invite others to join both of us along this journey. Lay down your boxing gloves. Stop fighting. Open your mind and your heart to what the Lord has. I will seek to minister to you and I trust you will seek to minister to someone else.        

          Stay tuned. We begin next week.




note: In preparation for this series I have found the following books particularly helpful. This does not mean I agree with everything in them, or with everything the author has ever said. It means I found them helpful in thinking my way through various aspects of this study, and in teaching it to others.
-Beyond Suffering, Layton Talbert
-If God is Good, Randy Alcorn
-When Shepherds Weep, Glenn Daman
-A Tale of Three Kings, Gene Edwards
-Between Pain and Grace, Gerald Peterman and Andrew Schmutzer

Needs

 Note: My first attempts at writing were poems, mostly in high school and college. From time to time, generally between series, I like to bring one to this blog. Today's poem was written on July 4, 1990 at Mt. Salem Revival Grounds in West Virginia. It was the summer before my senior year of high school. I was traveling with Evangelist Joe Boyd. We had just come back to home base after three weeks on the road holding revivals. Even now, over three decades later, I am unable to share the context behind this, but it is real and raw to me still. After an intense prayer session, I sat on a leafy hillside with a notebook, and this poem poured out of me. Curiously enough, eight years later to the day, I met my wife on the same spot that I wrote this.

Stay tuned. A new blog series launches next week.

______________________________________________________________________________

Needs

I need to walk and cry.
I need to sit and weep.
I need to pace and sigh.
I need to hurt a heap.

I need to ache inside.
I need to burdened be.
I need a tear to stride
Down my face slowly.

I need a load to carry.
I need a pain to bear.
I need a hope to bury.
I need a grief to share.

I need a broken heart
I can leave with You.
I need the bitter part
To keep me close to You.

An Open Offer of My Preaching

 Short post today...

     A lesser known branch of Brennan's Pen is Brennan's Pulpit. Several years ago, after I began writing, some of my readers began asking for access to my preaching. At first, we tried to email mp3 attachments of each message but that became problematic over time. So now we host them on a non-public page at my author website. The links play automatically on almost every phone.

Subscribers to Brennan's Pulpit receive an email several times a week with a link to a message preached the previous week or two. I do not pick and choose. Every sermon I preach in my own pulpit gets sent out this way, Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night. Of course, you may pick and choose what you listen to, naturally. 

There are currently about 120 subscribers. If this interests you just furnish me your email address and your name and we will add you to the list. If you receive this blog post by email you should know the blog list is separate. To be added to Brennan's Pulpit you may simply reply to this blog email and ask to be added. If you came across it on Facebook or online in some way send me a message at my Facebook author page, Brennan's Pen. 

There is no charge. It is free. The cost is underwritten by Brennan's Pen Patreon supporters.

A Plea for Church Planters

 Note: Today's post is by A. J. Potter. He pastors Pleasantville Baptist Church in Pleasantville, Iowa. He has organized a network of Iowa pastors to financially and spiritually support church planting here in our state. Knowing his burden and dedication in this area, I asked him to write a post about the need and opportunity here.

________________________________________________________________

What would you do if you had to drive one and a half hours one way to get to a solid Independent Baptist Church? If you are like me, you would pray that God would send someone to plant a church in your community. The above scenario is a scene that was played out at our church several months ago. A family looking for a church with specific convictions and standards would drive 90 miles one way to attend our church. This is not an unfamiliar weekly occasion in the state of Iowa. Every Sunday, families will get up early and plan to drive many miles to attend a church that will feed them spiritually and meet the needs of their family.

Only a few years ago, when I would have a conversation about church planting, my mind would go to the need of the western states or maybe to the void in the northeastern part of our country. After doing some research, I found that the state of Iowa, the state where I pastor a church, presented a great need for new churches as well.

There are approximately around 70 Independent Baptist churches in the state of Iowa. With a population of about 3 million people, this leaves many spiritual needs in our state and there are entire counties without an Independent Baptist presence. I am not insinuating that there is no gospel presence in some of these communities, because I am sure there is a gospel light in some cases, but the greater concern is for additional Independent Baptist churches to be established in the state of Iowa.

When I realized the lack of churches in our state, I automatically assumed I knew the answer to the dilemma. I wrongly thought that the reason there were not more Independent Baptist Churches in our state was because of the many smaller towns out in the rural communities. In my mind, I pictured little towns scattered all over the state with only a few hundred people in each community. This had to be the answer, there was no population base to support more churches in the rural communities.

It was only when I and a few others in our church started researching my theory that I found something that shocked me. I found that there were communities, towns, and cities in the state of Iowa that numbered in the thousands for population that had no Independent Baptist Church. Through research we have identified over 20 communities ranging in size from a low of 3,400 to a high of 9,800 in population that have no Independent Baptist Church. This knowledge created a burden in my heart for these communities without the presence of an Independent Baptist Church.

Let me give you some quick statistics about the state of Iowa. The state of Iowa is split up by two main interstates: I-80 running east and west and I-35 which runs north and south.  About 50 miles north and running parallel east and west with I-80 is Hwy 20. North of Hwy 20 is approximately 1/3 of the state of Iowa with a population of just over 770,000 people.

There are three main cities that are located right on the Hwy 20 corridor, Sioux City in the west with a population of 170,000, Waterloo toward the east with a population of 170,000 and Dubuque on the east border with a population of 96,000.  This leaves a population of over 334,000 outside these large cities in the top third of the state of Iowa.

The distance from the border from east to west is about 300 miles and from Hwy 20 to the north border of Iowa is about 70 miles.  In this entire area there are only a small number of Independent Fundamental Baptist Churches.

The area to the west of I-35 in the state of Iowa is also an area with a small scattering of Independent Baptist Churches.

We need laborers in the state of Iowa to come and start churches in these communities which have a need, not only for a gospel witness, but a strong witness for truth without compromise. 

There is also a great opportunity in the population centers of our state for more churches.  The Des Moines metro has around 700,000 people with about 5 IFB churches to reach them.  Statistics tell us by percentage, Greater Des Moines is growing faster than several large Midwest cities, including Chicago, Omaha, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, and St. Louis. (businessrecord.com)

There are 258,000 in the Cedar Rapids metro with only 4-5 IFB churches.  There are 150,000 + in the Iowa City metro with only 3 churches.  Davenport has over 100,000 in population with only a couple churches and there are close to 400,000 in the Quad Cities metro area with just a handful of churches.  Ames has a metro population of 90,000 with one known IFB church.

As you can see, there is a great need in the midwestern state of Iowa for church planters to come and establish Independent Baptist Churches. Thousands of souls without a true gospel witness are waiting for a preacher of the gospel to come to their community with this life saving message.

After seeing some of these surprising statistics, the result became a burden to see more churches planted in the state of Iowa. The formation of the Iowa Independent Baptist Church Planters was the answer to this burden for our state.

With the help of many other established Independent Baptist Churches our goal is to:

·       Establish

o   Independent Fundamental Baptist Churches in the state of Iowa 

·       Equip

o   Supply the resources needed to let the community know about the church plant

§  Mailers

§  Brochures

§  Flyers

§  Door Hangers

·       Enable

o   Help church planters shorten deputation by assisting to schedule meetings with Iowa churches

o   Introducing church planters to Iowa pastors looking to support church planting efforts

o   Sending regional churches to help canvass and door knock for new church plants 

·       Encourage

o   Two year church planter training course available

o   Church planters get practical training on how to plant a church

o   Church planters get involved in a local church to serve

o   Iowa pastors available to help mentor church planters

I am encouraged that there are churches excited about getting involved in the church planting process in Iowa, but there is a definite need for men and families to surrender to the call to start a church in this midwestern state.

In sharing this burden with others, I often use the example of a man named Cornelius found in Acts 10. This was a man searching for God through religious activity. God intervenes in his life through a vision first to Cornelius and then to the Apostle Peter. God sends Peter to give the gospel to Cornelius. We are told in Acts 10:24 that Cornelius waited for them, and had called together his kinsmen and near friends. I believe that there are many Cornelius’ that are waiting for someone to come to their community and share the gospel. They are searching for God, they are hungry for truth, and they may even be crying out to God for someone to come meet their need.

This was the case for a city in the suburbs of Des Moines called Waukee. There was a three generation family that began to pray for God to send someone to start an Independent Baptist Church in their community. They were driving to the opposite side of Des Moines to attend church. When they began to pray, God began to call. It was about the same time that they began to pray for a church planter that God called a young man and his wife from our church to start a church in that same city of Waukee. Through God’s providence, three years later, Grace Baptist Church began, and that praying three generation family became charter members of that church.

Someone has a Cornelius to meet in an Iowa community. Someone is waiting for them to answer the call of God to become a church planter in our state. I am excited about several church plants in progress or to be started this year in our state. The need is still great, will you join us in praying for God to send more church planters to our state to meet this great need? Will you consider asking the Lord if Iowa is your calling?

If you would like more information about the need for churches in the state of Iowa, please contact Pastor AJ Potter. Cell #: 641-226-0490. Email: pleasantvillebaptist@gmail.com.