The following are actual responses from comment cards given to the staff members at Bridger Wilderness Area in 1996:
Please avoid building trails that go uphill.
Too many bugs and leeches and spiders and spider webs.
Please spray the wilderness to rid the areas of these pests.
Please pave the trails so they can be snow-plowed during the winter.
Chair lifts need to be in some places so that we can get to wonderful views without having to hike to them.
The coyotes made too much noise last night and kept me awake. Please eradicate these annoying animals.
A small deer came into my camp and stole my jar of pickles. Is there a way I can get reimbursed?
Reflectors need to be placed on trees every 50 feet so people can hike at night with flashlights.
Escalators would help on steep uphill sections.
A MacDonald’s would be nice at the trailhead.
The places where trails do not exist are not well-marked.
Too many rocks in the mountains. (Source: Mike Neifert, Light and Life, February 1997, p. 27)
We’re not fond of pain, or even slight discomfort. We don’t love to be inconvenienced or moved out of our comfort zone. 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.
Last week we talked about discipleship. Jesus called His followers “disciples.” Paul was a disciple of Christ. We talked about the fact that knowing someone goes far beyond simply knowing about them. Really knowing someone is an experiential knowing through regular communication and participation in their life. To know Christ as a disciple is to know Him in the power of His resurrection and to know Him through the participation of sharing in His sufferings. These are intentional and intense ways of knowing Christ.
In our remaining time, I want to 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, purposeless, and rather lunatic. To seek to suffer would be twisted and sadistic. But to seek to become like Christ because of the suffering you endured would give purpose to any suffering that comes your way.
Here is my premise for this message: 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. We have to choose to cast our cares upon Him. We have to cling to the promises of God. We have to pray as if turnaround depends on the releasing of our faith as we talk to God. We have to hold fast to the hand of God. Those are all strategic decisions we must make if we want to benefit from the suffering. We are all going to endure suffering. We can either benefit from it or be buried by it. The choice is ours. Paul said he wanted to know Christ in a deeper, fuller way as a result of his suffering.
Church, the moments of struggle and difficulty are the moments when we prove we are disciples of Jesus. For as we stay bowed down to God’s will and God’s timing in our difficulties, it not only proves we belong to Jesus, but in those moments of struggle, as we willingly allow Jesus to be Lord, we give Him room to work in us. He will work in us in such a way as to cause the suffering to become something that actually blesses us in the end. 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.
Sometimes I think believers understand that we must die to sin in order to live a life that is pleasing to God, but I am not always sure we understand we are also supposed to die to our will every day. If we are content to turn from sin, but we still long to be in control of our lives, can we really say that Christ is Lord? And have we really turned from sin if self is on the throne? because having self on the throne of our lives is idol worship which is sin against God.
It’s all on the table this morning. Is there a holy purpose for suffering? Can we learn from the ways Jesus suffered? Let’s unpack the first question 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 sticking power. We need staying power. We need the ability to run this spiritual race with endurance. Hardships, sufferings give God room to work in our lives. 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 cause division, to blind people’s eyes to the truth and to make it hard for believers to speak boldly about Jesus.
This was a 180 for Peter. He 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 without suffering. There would have been no salvation without suffering. And when Jesus laid all that out, Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke Him. Peter wasn’t on board with the idea of a Suffering Servant, a Suffering Savior. Do you know what happened next? 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. 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.
Look at I Peter 4:13-14 again: 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.
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!
As Jesus hung on the cross and forgave those who had beaten and crucified Him, the Spirit of Glory was all over Him. As He gave His attention and energy to the thief on the cross, the only explanation for His ability to have the mental focus and physical energy to do so was because the Spirit of Glory was enabling Him.
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 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.
After He rebuked Peter, Jesus went on to tell all the disciples in Mark 8:34: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” Part of carrying a cross will be the decision to suffer the way Jesus did, with love, giving forgiveness, and making time for others even when you are suffering.
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.
Tell your neighbor, “One thing leads to another.” Do you see it here? 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.
I love that Peter didn’t talk about a smidgen of hope or a trickle of love, but there is this sense that a person who is suffering in a Jesus-way and for Jesus’ sake will be poured upon, deluged by the Holy Spirit. Can you see how that would benefit a person? To suffer in such a way that God’s love is poured upon you in your time of trial, wouldn’t that be a benefit? 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.
Do you hear Paul clearly? He 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 giving up, 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.
I love the lyrics to the Mercy Me song that say:
Bring me joy, bring me peace Bring the chance to be free
Bring me anything that brings You glory
And I know there’ll be days When this life brings me pain
But if that’s what it takes to praise You Jesus, bring the rain
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.”
I also think suffering gives us an opportunity to develop a deeper appreciation for what Christ suffered on our behalf. We suffer because we are human and each of us deals with the highs and lows that come with the human experience. Jesus is God, but He willingly became human. He didn’t have to give up His rights as God and come to live as we do on earth. He also willingly went to the cross. As you suffer, thank Jesus for the infinite ways He suffered so that you could know Him, so that your suffering could be temporary, so that one day suffering could be put behind you forever when you step into eternity in Heaven.
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?
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