We’re not fond of pain, or even slight discomfort. It would be unnatural to us to desire to be any of those things, and yet, we read in Philippians 3:10-11 that the Apostle Paul was open to and even welcomed the possibility of suffering because of the benefits it would produce in his life as he followed Christ. Paul had an unnatural, or shall I say, supernatural ability to endure suffering and even welcomed it if it would enable him to draw closer to Christ. Knowing Christ was ultimate. Whatever that took, however that could happen, that is what Paul wanted.
Philippians 3:10-11-10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
Let’s focus on knowing Christ through the participation of His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death. The two phrases have to go together. They have to go together because desiring suffering just for the sake of suffering is pointless and rather lunatic, but to seek to become like Christ because of the suffering you endured would give purpose to any suffering that comes your way.
Suffering has the potential to spiritually and emotionally bury a person, or it has the potential to drive a person into closer fellowship with Christ which results in building them and blessing them. You can be buried by your suffering, or you can benefit from it, and you get to choose the outcome.
Paul desired to be stretched in times of stress and strain, to be molded into the image of Christ instead of melting down when trouble came to him. He saw suffering, with Christ/for the sake of Christ, as a way to obtain resurrection.
Consider this: It is actually in moments of suffering that we have to engage our will to follow Jesus. We have to make a determined and deliberate decision to follow Christ during trials. The moments of struggle and difficulty are the moments when we prove we are disciples of Jesus. Paul wanted to know what it was like to be supported by Jesus, even to the point of death. He knew it would lead to a resurrection in his life.
Is there a holy purpose for suffering? Can we learn from the ways Jesus suffered? Let’s unpack these questions by going to four weighty passages:
James 1:2-4- 2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
Perseverance and endurance are being worked in us as we deal with adversity. Those are of great benefit to us. We need the ability to run this spiritual race with endurance. Because of the position we find ourselves in when we suffer, because we are helpless to change our circumstance, we are more open to look to God and to receive help from God in times of suffering than we ever would be when things are going smoothly. James tells us that suffering is an opportunity for spiritual maturity. That is a good purpose for suffering.
I Peter 4:12-14 12 Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his GLORY is revealed. 14 If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the SPIRIT OF GLORY and of God rests on you.
Peter tells us not to be surprised if we suffer for identifying with Jesus. If we share His name, if we live as a committed witness to the Gospel, we shouldn’t think it strange if it costs us something. Satan is hard at work to make it hard for believers to speak boldly about Jesus.
Peter wasn’t always on board with the idea of suffering. He didn’t understand how it could serve the purposes of God. In Mark 8, Jesus began to tell His disciples that He was going to suffer. In fact, in verse 31 Jesus said He must suffer many things. God’s plan for Jesus involved suffering. He told His followers He would be rejected and killed, but that He would rise again after three days. There would have been no resurrection and no salvation without suffering. And when Jesus laid all that out, Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke Him. Jesus rebuked Peter, and as He did, He addressed Satan. He said, “Get behind me, Satan! You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” Mark 8:33
We have to get beyond human ideas about suffering, human concerns about suffering, and ask God what He is concerned about when we suffer. What was God’s purpose for Jesus’ suffering? God’s ultimate concern was the salvation of humanity, and guess what? Although it called for the death of Christ, it came with the glorification of Christ at the same time. Listen, for those who trust God, there is a dying and a rising in every suffering situation.
The sufferings of Christ were ordained by God the Father. Can you trust God to the point where if He ordains suffering you will move through it in confidence knowing that it will result in HIS GLORY being revealed? That is a great purpose for suffering. If suffering advances the glory of God, it is a good purpose. If the Spirit of Glory rests on you as you suffer, that is an amazing benefit!
Have you ever thought how the people at the foot of the cross were processing what they were seeing? Wouldn’t you like to know what the side conversations were like? Wouldn’t you love to see people at the cross with their jaws on the floor because they couldn’t figure out how Jesus would love and forgive them after they had crucified Him, how Jesus would want to make time for someone when He barely had any time left Himself?
Some of you are suffering right now. It would be an act of faith for you to begin to declare that God’s glory will be revealed in your suffering. God’s glory will advance because of what you are enduring, and the Spirit of Glory, the Holy Spirit, will rest on you and help you through this difficult season. Did you ever view a time of suffering as an opportunity to get better acquainted with the Holy Spirit? From Peter’s words in I Peter 4:13-14, that’s one of the benefits of suffering with Jesus.
A third Scripture helps us see there is a positive domino effect when we endure suffering with a godly perspective. Romans 5:3-5- 3 Not only so, but we[a] also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
Suffering produces perseverance which leads to character which creates hope. This is a beautiful picture of Christian maturity. A pattern is forming in the life of a person who will view suffering from God’s perspective, and it is the pattern of Christian discipleship. If you steward your suffering from this perspective, from a recognition that it will lead you on in Jesus, you won’t be disappointed. God’s love becomes poured into your heart as you move through this development which results in a deeper love relationship with God. Shouldn’t we all want to experience God’s love in increasing ways? What if the way to have God’s love poured out over your life is to walk intentionally with Him during our moments of suffering?
Paul wanted to know the fellowship of sharing in Christ’s sufferings. He wanted a full-Jesus experience. Not just a Church-Jesus experience or an intellectual Jesus-experience or an historical Jesus-experience, or a second-hand Jesus-experience, but a knowing of Jesus that impacted how he lived out every situation whether wanted or unwanted. Paul never sugar-coated the life of a true disciple. He knew that a lot of the suffering he endured was brought on BECAUSE he followed Jesus.
II Corinthians 1:8-9- 8 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters,[a] about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.
Paul was saying he lived at times at the brink of death. Didn’t he say in Philippians 3 that he wanted to become like Jesus in His death, verse 11, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
It sounds like Paul came awful close to death on several occasions, but what happened in those moments when he was sure his life was ending, when he didn’t think he could hold on one more second, when he thought it was all over, he chose to rely on God and not on himself to wiggle out of a tight spot. He chose to rely on God and not on himself to escape some struggle or season of suffering. He chose to rely on God who raises the dead. To experience Jesus in the power of His resurrection requires suffering, but isn’t it worth it to know that kind of miraculous power?
No matter what you are enduring right now, believer, the word for you is resurrection. Hold on to the God who can raise the dead, the One who can make all things new, the God who can bring hope from despair and life from the darkest and deadest of situations.
As disciples of Jesus, we must seek to live as He did. He has given us an example in all things, suffering included. Look at I Peter 2:21-23 21 To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. 22 “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.”[e] 23 When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.
What you will suffer isn’t always something in your control, but how you suffer will always be something you get to decide. You can let suffering make you bitter or you can receive the blessings that can come as a result of suffering. You can let suffering bury you or you can look to God to bless you. You can invite the Holy Spirit to help you identify in a greater way with Christ with the understanding that it will result in transformation. You can give God permission and space to work in you to produce the characteristics of Christ in increasing measure. You can become preoccupied with allowing the glory of God to be on display. You can experience being poured upon by the Holy Spirit in ways that teach you that “the anchor holds.” “God’s presence and peace and power are real.”
Remember, Paul wanted to know Christ through the participation of His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death.
What if really knowing Christ in both the power of His resurrection and through sharing in His sufferings, what if those are the ways to becoming like Him? Would that make suffering worth it? Would that give it a purpose beyond the pain and frustration for a season? What if suffering is really a tool in the hand of God to bring Christ-like transformation to our character and to reveal His glory to those around us? Does anyone have the same desire as Paul this morning, to become like Christ because you share in both His power and in His sufferings? What if both can happen at the same time?
Do you need resurrection power at the moment? Do you need to be poured upon by the Holy Spirit because of all that is pressing in on you just now? Do you need to experience real hope? Do you need to let the love of God flow into your heart? Does someone around you need to know who God is because you will persevere through your trial? What if your willingness to know Christ in both His power and in His suffering enables other people to know Him? Would that be worth it? Would that make suffering beneficial? Can you entrust yourself and your struggle to the Lord with me just now and call on Heaven for the help you need to rise with Christ?
