Suffering=Maturity
Have
you ever noticed how the Bible just
tells it like it is? I'm so glad
God does that in His Word. He doesn't
try to hide the facts or gloss-over
whom or what people really are.
Take Rahab for example; she was
a woman of the night and yet God
used her to help hide the spies
and facilitate their escape from
Jericho. Did you know that she is
even mentioned in the lineage of
Jesus?
People
rightly give Jonah a hard time for
running from God, but think about
how much more disappointing King
David was. Though he was a man after
God's own heart at times, he arranged
the murder of Uriah, committed adultery
with Bathsheba, and took a census
against God's will. What a blemish
he was on the landscape of history.
And yet he, too, is listed in the
lineage of Jesus.
God
is not in the habit of evading the
hard truths of life just to make
it sound better. And, quite frankly,
neither was Paul. In Philippians
3:10-11, Paul wrote:
"I want to know Christ and
the power of His resurrection and
the fellowship of sharing in His
sufferings, becoming like Him in
his death, 11 and so, somehow, to
attain to the resurrection from
the dead." I love that
verse; that which Paul expresses
is profound! Let's break it down.
The
way Paul approaches this is in a
progression of Christian growth.
First, he begins with the most basic:
"I
want to know Christ." This
knowing Christ is accomplished
through salvation and in the early
phase of Christian growth. This
is the broad brush stroke that includes
everyone in the faith. We know Jesus,
we have experienced His forgiveness
and salvation, and we have begun
to grow. But Paul doesn't want just
a surface relationship with Jesus;
he wants to grow more deeply. So
he mentions phase two in Christian
growth which is represented by "the
power of His resurrection."
I know
very few Christians who don't want
to experience the power that
is ours as believers. As we grow
more deeply in Christ Jesus, we
begin to understand that the same
power that raised Jesus from the
dead is the very power that is both
in us to seal our salvation and
at our disposal to live victoriously
in our daily lives.
When
we begin to understand and utilize
this power to the glory of God,
we have moved to the next level
spiritually. When we're in this
phase of spiritual growth, we regularly
practice truths like James 4:7:
"Submit
yourselves, then, to God. Resist
the devil, and he will flee from
you." We first submit
ourselves to God; that's where we
get the power to do the later part
of the verse: to resist the devil.
If we try to resist the devil on
our own, before submitting to God,
it's hopeless; we're powerless to
do so. We can do that only after
we first submit to God. Submitting
to God is as important as it sounds:
confessing our sins, coming clean
before God, and claiming and walking
in the victory that is ours in Jesus.
There
are far fewer believers in this
phase of Christian growth than there
were in the first phase. This phase
requires more dedication and commitment
to discipleship and since fewer
people are willing to get serious
about God, fewer people experience
the power.
But
notice Paul's desire to move to
yet another level of spiritual growth.
This is the deeper, more exciting,
most fulfilling phase; but, in all
honesty, you may be able to count
on one hand the people you know
who dwell here.
To
have progressed to this level means
you, like Paul, are willing to suffer
for Christ in order to experience
the deepness and the richness of
a relationship with Jesus that can't
be experienced any other way. To
know Him through the "fellowship
of His sufferings" is to so
fully identify with Jesus, to be
so completely filled with His Spirit,
that there's no room for me in my
heart; no room for the things I
want, only that which Jesus wants.
Jesus described this phase like
this: "If
anyone would come after me, he must
deny himself and take up his cross
daily and follow me"
(Lk. 9:23). The cross represented
suffering for Christ and for those
who witnessed the crucifixions of
the day. Suffering is essential
to depth. As one writer put it,
the roots grow deep when the winds
blow strong.
Paul
picks up on that idea here acknowledging
that the willingness to fellowship
with Christ through suffering brings
about the deepest level of Christian
growth possible. And if anyone knew
both about suffering and walking
deeply with our Lord Jesus, it was
Paul. Suffering is that which we
try so laboriously to avoid, and
yet it is the fire through which
we are refined and made to look
most like Jesus.
Martin
Luther's masterful piece, "A
Mighty Fortress Is Our God,"
has been called the "Battle
Hymn of the Reformation." James
Moffatt described it as the "greatest
hymn of the greatest man of the
greatest period of German history."
This triumphant song, taken from
Psalm 46, has inspired legions of
Christians for nearly five centuries.
A significant twist to this victorious
hymn is that Luther wrote it during
a season of great depression.
In
1527, Martin Luther experienced
nearly a year of sickness and intense
depression. It was a year of suffering,
and one from which he wished he
could have escaped. But in the depths
of that pain and sadness, God brought
forth a majestic hymn that has fortified
the faith of millions. Martin Luther,
like all of us, hoped for escape
from his discouraging experiences
of suffering, but God used that
difficult time to shape a mighty
message of hope. Although none of
us would run to discouragement
and suffering, we might do well
to spend less time running from
it and more time searching for the
truths God wants to show us when
suffering comes our way.1
As
you pray today, please understand
that the process reflected here
represents the normal Christian
life, not some fanatical commitment
that is weird and unnatural. Pray
that God will purify us so that
He can use us in ever greater ways
to build-up His Kingdom. Ask God
if you are resisting His attempts
to refine you by refusing the suffering
that brings intimate fellowship
with Him. Seek the Lord about what
He's up to in your life and pray
for the grace to surrender to His
attempts to deepen life's most intimate
and fulfilling relationship.
___________
1Companion
to Baptist Hymnal, William Reynolds,
1976, p. 24.
