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We hate pain! Of course that’s not really a strange thing is it? I suppose we would be thought of as even more strange if we liked pain. I’m sure you remember those good old college days when our Psychology professors told us that, “Human beings operate on a flight or fight principle of survival . . .” In other words when the pressure’s on we either “fight” or take “flight”. Either way, the goal is to avoid, or get past, the pressure. That may be our instinctive response, but is it the Biblical response? I’m certainly not suggesting that we look for opportunities to suffer, there seem to be plenty of those that come our way without any help from us. But in reality is suffering a good thing, or a bad thing? I lean toward “bad”. I’m wrong, however. Fighting and “flighting” are not sound Biblical responses to pressure; why?
"In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. . ." (Heb. 2:10)
"We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are, yet was without sin. Let us approach the throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." (Heb. 4:15-16)
And in 2 Corinthians,1:4 Paul speaks of the sufferings of Christ flowing over into our lives. A few of the questions I have heard from desperate and despairing young believers have been,
"If Christ suffered for us, why do WE also have to suffer like this. . .?
"I've heard all the arguments about suffering developing character, but why can't God bring us to Himself and then just give us the character we need?
"Where's the 'abundant life' Jesus promised?
“Why doesn't He heal when we need healing?
Why doesn't He touch our bodies and souls in the same way He seemed to do 2000 years ago when He walked among us?"
I personally think that most Christians wonder about these things, though not many of us seem willing to admit it. So, here's reality: just as God has chosen faith to be the means of our receiving eternal life, He has chosen suffering as the means of bringing many sons to glory. Paul actually ties these two truths together in Phil. 1:29,
"For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for Him..."
The moment we first believed in Christ for our salvation, we began a life of following the One we believed in, and that One was brought to perfection through suffering. This is our first wake-up call for the Christian life. Any idea that once we become Christians, our troubles are over is shattered in 2 Corinthians 1 and in Philippians 1. To follow Christ will mean to come under intense pressure, and that pressure, that suffering, that warfare, will not cease until we either give up and go Judas, or until we enter eternity glorified in Christ.
Why is it necessary that suffering be a part of the Christian life? There are several reasons, and the first comes out in 2 Corinthians 1:6,
“If we are distressed it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer.”
There is absolutely no way you and I can be of any real value to others who are hurting unless we know, in personal experience, what it's like to hurt. Just as medical school is needed as preparation to practice medicine; personal affliction is a necessary preparation for ministry to others. It's not enough that we know certain solutions to other people's problems; it’s not the same as struggling with those problems ourselves and learning how to deal with them in intimacy with Christ. As someone said, “If I ever break my leg, give me a doctor whose leg has been broken..." Why is that? Why should our whole lives, in a sense, be sacrificed for the sake of others?
For one thing, contrary to popular thought, the supreme purpose of life on earth for the Christian is not pleasure, fame, wealth, or any other form of worldly success, but learning to love. And love, if it is to be real; if it is to be genuine, must involve empathy not just sympathy.
We must never forget that a servant is not above His Master; if Jesus, in His humanity was made perfect through suffering, then we will not be made perfect in some other way.
You will notice also in 2 Corinthians 1:6 that Paul is trying to focus the Corinthians on the fact that "... we can (only) comfort those in trouble with the comfort we have received. . ."
We are simply not here for ourselves; even though we tend to live our lives as though we were. The only real freedom we will ever experience; the only taste of heaven we can have on this planet, is when self is lost in love to God and to others.
It seems to us to be the opposite.
Won't we be happiest when all our needs are met? For Jesus, His greatest joy was enduring the cross, despising the shame, and sitting down at the right hand of the Father having redeemed His bride by His suffering. Don't you suppose that Jesus would know more about the way life really is than any of us? Don't you think that if He says self-denial is a greater blessing than self-indulgence, He knows what He is talking about? The suffering we go through tears away our determination to cater exclusively to our own needs and wants at the expense of others. We become less preoccupied with what we need and more concerned, sensitive, and aware of the needs of others.
Another reason suffering is so necessary in our lives is to teach dependence on God; to deepen our relationship with Him. In 2 Corinthians 1:8-9 Paul writes,
“... we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, Who raises the dead.”
It’s obviously not as difficult to trust God when things are going well. Don't we, by nature, tend to lose spiritual fervency when, as the saying goes, "life is good. . ."? But what happens when we get a taste of what Job experienced? Would we say the same thing he said?, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him..." (Job 13:15)
That was an incredible declaration of faith! Paul despaired of life; he was pressed beyond his ability to endure it; and this was all done to him by the One Paul calls, “The Father of compassion and the God of all comfort. . ." (2 Corinthians 1:3). And Paul said that all of this happened so that he might learn to not rely on himself, but on the God who raises the dead. Paul is basically declaring, “If I die, I die. If God raises me from the dead, I live. But my hope is not in me; it is in Him. No matter what He does, no matter what decision He makes, I will trust Him!”
Did Paul start his Christian life with that kind of faith? Or did it take years of training, affliction, trials, victories and failures to get Paul to the place where he could write these things to others? I believe this is one of the reasons we have such detailed accounts in the Gospels and in Acts of the human frailties and weaknesses of the disciples. It’s not just to make sure we realize that the Bible is being honest; it's also to give us hope. God shaped these men and women into warriors; into saints equipped for service in His kingdom. In themselves, of course, they were selfish, sinful, afraid, weak and hopeless (like us), but by God’s grace and never ceasing faithfulness to them, they became strong.
The final reason for suffering I want to mention is the suffering that comes to the righteous for being righteous. I'm not talking about persecution from others (that happens too sometimes), I'm talking about the inward pain of moral choice. We have, within these fearfully and wonderfully made bodies, something called the flesh. And this flesh is in full sympathy with the immorality of the culture around us. There is a very strong desire in all of us to participate in the things of the flesh which are listed in Galatians 5:19-20,
“The acts of the flesh are: sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealously, fits of rage (road rage?), selfish ambition, factions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and the like...”
We have both legitimate and illegitimate unmet needs as well as wants. We are constantly pressured, within ourselves, to do whatever it takes to take away the pain of those needs; so, in the flesh we turn to the world to have them met – or we don’t. To deny ourselves in this sense is a painful thing. There are times when the choice to do the right thing goes against everything inside us that is screaming to have our needs met by what this world is offering us. We should never underestimate the pain of moral choice. It's hard to do the right thing, especially when denying ourselves will leave us with deep unmet desires.
We are assaulted from without and from within for the stand we have taken to be true to our Lord. And for most of us, the pressure of those assaults will last our entire lives. It's an endurance test that will not be totally lifted until we reach heaven. Which, I believe, is what Paul means in Romans 8:23,
"We, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for the redemption of our bodies..."
These bodies, with their insatiable desires, can cause real moral problems. But the redemption, or releasing, of our souls from the flesh's influence will not be complete until our Lord returns. As we grow in our knowledge of Christ and in our relationship with Him we will experience wondrous things. The fruit of the Spirit alone is worth the pursuit - “Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Galatians 5:22). But along with those mercies we will also experience the animosity of the flesh and sometimes the world. It’s better to know these things than to deny them in our desire to avoid pain at all costs.
I will close this article with a poem that was forwarded to me via Email. It definitely shows how “joy” and “pain” can be companions,
"I walked a mile with pleasure. She chattered all the way, But left me none the wiser For all she had to say. I walked a mile with sorrow; And never a word said she, But, Oh, the things I learned from her, When sorrow walked with me."
Trinity Baptist Church
711 Fairview Dr. Moscow, Idaho 83843
208.882.2015
trinity@moscow.com
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