Tag Archives: suffering

THE BOOK OF ACTS – EYE FOR AN EYE

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EYE FOR AN EYE

“The people in the crowd had listened attentively up to this point, but now they broke loose, shouting out, ‘Kill him! He’s an insect! Stomp on him!’ They shook their fists. They filled the air with curses. That’s when the captain intervened and ordered Paul taken into the barracks. By now the captain was thoroughly exasperated. He decided to interrogate Paul under torture in order to get to the bottom of this, to find out what he had done that provoked this outraged violence. As they spread-eagled him with thongs, getting him ready for the whip, Paul said to the centurion standing there, ‘Is this legal: torturing a Roman citizen without a fair trial?'” Acts 22:22-25 (The Message).

What set the crowd off again? They had been listening to Paul’s story without any reaction up to this point, but at the mention of “Gentiles” they went crazy, demanding his annihilation as though he were a bug. This puzzled the Roman captain. What was it with these people? Why this pathological hatred of Paul?

He thought that there was something more sinister to this man, Paul that he was not letting on about; he would wring it out of him under torture. Flogging him would do the trick, so he thought.

Paul was not looking forward to yet another beating, Roman style. He had one card up his sleeve to put a stop to it which he quickly pulled out while he had the chance — Roman citizenship. He did not whine to God about this unfair treatment. He used the system of the world he was in to protect himself from unnecessary suffering. There was enough of that ahead for him over which he had no power.

What should our response be to the injustices we, as believers, have to suffer at the hands of religious bigots? Jesus had an answer that befits citizens of the kingdom of God whose task it is to bring heaven down to earth. “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Matthew 5:11-12 (NIV).

Strange as it may seem, Jesus maintained that persecution was a reason to rejoice, firstly because there is a great reward for those who are unashamedly loyal to Him and follow Him with no qualms; and secondly, because you are in good company since their own prophets received the same treatment as they were receiving.

James also wrote about the benefits of various trials and tests. “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James1:2-4 (NIV).

Peter had this to say about the trials the believers were undergoing in his day: “In this (all the benefits of salvation) you greatly rejoice, though now, for a little while you may have to suffer grief in all kinds of trials, These have come so that your faith — of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire — may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed.” 1 Peter 1:7 (NIV).

Paul also recognised the benefits of suffering: “Therefore we do not lost heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (NIV).

What is God’s take in this? Will those who inflict pain on His people simply because they belong to Jesus and bear witness to His grace, never receive the justice they deserve for the injustice they have done against other human beings?

“You’re suffering now, but justice is on the way. When the Master Jesus appears out of heaven in a blaze of fire with His strong angels, He’ll even up the score by settling accounts with those who gave you such a bad time. His coming will be the break we are waiting for. Those who refuse to know God and refuse to obey the Message will pay for what they’ve done.” 2 Thessalonians 1:6-8 (The Message).

But We See Jesus

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BUT WE SEE JESUS

But we do see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honour because He suffered death, so that by the grace of God He might taste of death for everyone. In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what He suffered. (Heb. 2: 9, 10).

God’s purpose for mankind is a lofty one – to rule over His creation as His vice regent. But we have a creation in rebellion, triggered by man’s rebellion in the beginning.

The writer to the Hebrews caught the vision of David’s song of praise to God, recorded in Psalm 8. As great and immeasurable as the universe is, God created mankind to have greater glory than the majestic grandeur of the universe. He made man in His own image and gave Him a role that not even angels have been given – to manage the earth for Him as kings and priests.

But it has not yet come to pass as God intended. Man has squandered God’s resources and mismanaged His creation. He has interfered with the interconnectedness of the created order and brought destruction instead of maintaining order and harmony. God’s intention still stands but it would take a cataclysmic event to set everything right and get it back on track again.

This is where Jesus comes in. God’s sons and daughters failed to fulfil His mandate, choosing their own rules and messing everything up. God needed one obedient Son to put it all right, so He sent His own Son, made an exact replica of the original man, to do what the first man was supposed to do. Obedience to the Father was the key.

Just as Adam was the representative of the human race, but failed and brought disaster on us all, so Jesus was the representative of the human race to undo what Adam did. He lived the life of a perfect son, and then took the rap for all our failure. God accepted His death as a substitute for us and reckoned us to be perfect sons and daughters just as Jesus was a perfect son.

Angels can never be what God created man to be, and angels can never do what Jesus did to put right what went wrong. Jesus, as representative man, the last Adam -and there will never be another beginning to the human race because Jesus achieved what He set out to do – leads the charge to fulfil God’s plan for the whole of creation.

God never gave up on His plan to have a family of perfect sons and daughters, free of sin and living in union with Him, with all mankind and with all of creation. Through suffering as a human being, subject to the weaknesses of humanity, and suffering for the sin of the world as our perfect substitute, Jesus pulled off God’s rescue plan. Sin and its penalty gone, He is free to bring ‘many sons to glory’. What does that mean?

Does it mean that He will take us to heaven when we die? That and much more! Glory implies the radiance of who God is – His character and attributes. As heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, we have an inheritance that is our right as His sons and daughters. What is our inheritance? The Bible only hints at the nature of our inheritance in Christ, using all-inclusive words like the following:

1. Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. (Luke 12:32) – God has given the kingdom to His true sons, but not to those who lives, not their words, deny their allegiance to Jesus.

2. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. (Matt. 5: 5). Those whose strength is harnessed for service will have a part in managing the earth for God.

3.  He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all – how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things? (Rom. 8: 32).

4. Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. (2 Peter 1: 4).

These are all-inclusive promises summed up in Paul’s words:

‘What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived ‘- the things God has prepared for those who love Him. (1 Cor. 2: 9).

The summit of our inheritance as God’s children is that we will once again be bearers of God’s image and His divine nature as he intended. Jesus will lead us into our inheritance as God’s perfect children just as He is.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 

 

 

Christ’s Suffering Made Perfect

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CHRIST’S SUFFERING MADE COMPLETE 

Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of His body, the church. I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the Word of God in its fullness – the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. (Colossians 1:24-26).

What was Paul talking about? It almost seems as though he was telling the Colossians that Jesus’s suffering for their salvation was not complete – that he, Paul, had to complete His suffering for the salvation of the church. For Paul to mean that is unthinkable. He wrote a whole letter to disprove the teaching of the Judaizers that Gentiles needed to become Jews before they could become Christians. He contended vigorously for the sufficiency of Christ’s death for our salvation.

If that was not what he meant, what did he mean? I am indebted to John Piper for his explanation.

http://www.desiringGod.org/conference-messages/filling-up-what-is-lacking-in-christs-afflictions

Jesus’s suffering on the cross was sufficient for the salvation of the world. There is nothing that needs to be added to what He has done to make us more acceptable to God than we are through Him. To try to add anything is to cancel out grace and put us back where the Jews were, trying to earn God’s salvation through good works or keeping the Law.

However, believers are called to suffer for Christ because, in that way His suffering becomes visible and real to the world. When people are willing to suffer joyfully and even to lay down their lives for Jesus, unbelievers begin to realise that they have a concrete reason for believing in Him. No one would go that far and suffer that much for a lie.

When a minister of the gospel is willing to lay aside his comforts and go to the remotest corners of the earth to carry the gospel to people who have never heard, to do without their comforts and live like they live, they are able to see the love that Jesus had for them, that He came from the Father to give His life for the world.

Paul recognised that Epaphroditus, as a representative of the Philippian church, had come to ‘complete what was lacking’ in their service to him (Philippians 2: 30). They could not all go to him in person, but they could send their representative to help Paul on their behalf. In the process, he became ill and almost died, but that was part of the expression of their love for Paul. Epaphroditus was not acting on his own – the Philippians were ‘in’ him, suffering for them as he ministered to Paul.

In the same way, Paul’s suffering was his way of showing people wherever he went that he was willing to forfeit his ease and comfort and suffer just as Jesus gave up His place and glory in heaven with the Father in order to show His love for them. Jesus’s death on the cross was much more than just a fact of history or a doctrine of the church. It was made real by those who laid down their lives to carry His message to the world.

‘His sufferings are completed in our sufferings because in ours the world sees His, and they have their appointed effect. The suffering love of Christ for sinners is seen in the suffering love of His people for sinners.’ (By John Piper © 2014 Desiring God Foundation. Website: www.desiringGod.org )

Paul knew that suffering was to be part of his calling. Ananias was sent to restore his sight after his encounter with Jesus on the Damascus road and to give him his commission:

. . . The Lord said to Ananias, ‘Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.’ Acts 9:15, 16.

Whatever form our suffering takes, if it comes to us in the course of our obedience to Jesus, and not the suffering that is part of the fallen world, we are also, in our place of witness, ‘completing what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ.’

SCRIPTURE TAKEN FROM THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 

Glimpses Of The Great God: Day Fifteen

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DAY FIFTEEN

 Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer,

and though the Lord makes His life a guilt offering,

He will see His offspring and prolong His days,

and the will of the Lord will prosper in His hand.

After the suffering of His soul,

He will see the light of life and be satisfied;

by His knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,

and He will bear their iniquities.

Therefore I will give Him a portion among the great,

and He will divide the spoils with the strong,

because He poured out His life unto death,

and was numbered with the transgressors.

For He bore the sin of many,

and made intercession for the transgressors.

Isaiah 53:10-12

 The first words of this passage come as a shock.  All this pain, all this agony, all this humiliation — God not only allowed it but actually initiated it.  How can this be?  How could God be happy to inflict such a terrible experience on His own Son?   But that is only half of the story. This magnificent story has a glorious ending.  Injustice, torture, torment and suffering did not end with death. On the other side of the grave there was life, and not only for Jesus but for us as well.  God’s pleasure was not in the suffering His Son had to endure but in the outcome of that suffering.  God knew that through the travail of His Son’s soul, there would be many who would be brought into His eternal kingdom.  Gaze long on the bloodied Son of God, hanging on a cross.  That is the measure of God’s love for you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hug It, Don’t Shrug It

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HUG IT, DON’T SHRUG IT

“Then He told them what they could expect for themselves: ‘Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You are not in the driver’s seat — I am. Don’t run from suffering; embrace it. Believe me and I’ll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself. What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you?

“‘If any of you is embarrassed with me and the way I’m leading you, know that the Son of Man will be far more embarrassed with you when He arrives in all His splendour in company with the Father and the holy angels. This isn’t, you realise, pie in the sky by and by. Some who have taken their stand right here are going to see it happen, see with their very own eyes the kingdom of God.'” Luke 9:23-27 (The Message).

In the context of His own impending suffering, Jesus laid out clearly before the Twelve the way of a disciple. Once again it’s all about letting Him lead. What does that mean? How do we interpret the circumstances of our everyday lives, especially when things are tough or uncomfortable or even tragic? Is He leading only when the days are sunny and the way smooth? That’s what we tend to think, and we give the credit to the devil when things go wrong.

Could it be that Jesus is leading, even when we don’t like what’s happening? It’s really all about trusting Him, isn’t it? My journey with Him had been a long one, over 57 years to date, and it has taken me a long time to realise that He was leading every step of the way, through success and failure, through financial struggles, the loss of a child, a stormy marriage, divorce, homelessness, starting a new business, and having to pick myself up and carry on on my own.

Jesus gives us the key to using our difficult times to our advantage, not wasting them blaming the devil and becoming angry and disillusioned with God. He said, ‘Don’t run from suffering; embrace it.’ That’s it! Our attitude to our hard times will make all the difference between wasting them and having to go through them over and over again, or embracing then and being refined like gold in the fire.

The writer to the Hebrews recognised hardship as God’s way of disciplining His beloved children. “My dear child, don’t shrug off God’s discipline, but don’t be crushed by it either. It’s the child He loves that He disciplines; the child He embraces He also corrects.” Hebrews 12:5b, 6 (The Message).

Does that mean that God deliberately makes life difficult for us? No. We live in a fallen world where bad things happen to good people as well as bad people. Our troubles are sometimes the result of our own bad choices and sometimes the result of other people’s bad decisions, but God brings good out of the worst of circumstances if we trust Him.

 

Why does He allow stuff to happen? Why does He not cushion us from trouble and suffering? I think that one of the big reasons is that, when we are bumped, what’s inside of us comes out. God’s plan is to “bring many sons to glory” (Hebrews 2:10); and He does it in the same way as He prepared Jesus to be the perfect sacrifice for our sin; through suffering.

He has to get rid of the thoughts and beliefs and attitudes that belong to our old sinful, selfish natures. Difficult times, issues with people, physical and emotional suffering expose what’s in our hearts. If we turn these things over to Jesus, He will cleanse and heal us and move us towards being mature sons and daughters instead of immature brats who are always needing diapers changed and noses wiped, always demanding, and always throwing temper tantrums when we don’t get our own way.

“Don’t run from suffering; embrace it.” Treat it as a friend, not an intruder. You will be on the way to being released from your old selfish self to becoming “a chip off the old block”, following and imitating your Master.