The other day, I was counseling a Christian friend, who has suffered financial difficulties as a result of the challenging economy we’ve all faced the last few years. She was struggling to understand her suffering. She finally concluded that her difficulties must some how be the result of her not living up to God’s expectations of her. I told her that, although it’s true that there are negative consequences to poor choices we make, and that sometimes suffering may even come as a result of some sin in our life, the reality is we live in a fallen world where suffering is common to us all.
I’ve had the privilege of ministering to the Body of Christ around the World in many different countries. One thing I have observed is that we all experience suffering. Even in America, as rich in luxuries as we are, we are not exempt from suffering. Some may argue that Americans never experience suffering as most of the World does through famine, disease, war, and poverty. And in most places in the World, if you are a Christian, you can also add to that…persecution. However, I have concluded through my own journey the last few years, and based on what I know about many of you, that suffering comes to us all. Suffering may come to us in different ways, such as financial lose, broken relationships, sickness, stress, worry, fear, and anxiety, nonetheless, it’s still all suffering.
Sometimes, as Christians, we think we are entitled to be exempt from suffering. However, if God did not even spare His own Son from suffering, why should we be arrogant enough to think we should be exempt from it?
The Apostle Paul tells us, and even from a prison cell, that we should “REJOICE in our sufferings”. Four years ago I would read Paul’s suggestion in Romans 5:3 and think that he must have been delusional from being in confinement. Why else would he suggest such a thing! But, tonight I want to share with you 3 reasons why I now believe we should…REJOICE IN OUR SUFFERINGS!
1. Suffering Qualifies us to Share in the Glory of Jesus
In Philippians 3:10-11, Paul expresses his desire to identify with Jesus in his Glory when he says, “I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead.” Then he qualifies his desire by saying, “I (also) want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!” In Romans 8:16-17, he tells us, “that we are God’s children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But (he says) if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.” Finally, Peter counsels us in 1 Peter 4:12-13 not to “be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through…Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world.”
2. God Uses Suffering to Make Us Disciples
In Job 23, Job confesses that he doesn’t understand God’s ways, but declares that God “knows the way that I take; (and) when he has tested me I will come forth as gold”. Have you ever watched a goldsmith purify gold? He carefully heats the gold until it becomes a liquid, then he brings it just to the point of boiling. As he does this, the impurities rise to the top and he carefully scrapes them all away until he is able to see his own image in the reflection of the gold. God is the goldsmith in your life and mine, allowing us to endure just enough suffering to cause the impurities in our lives to be carefully scrapped away by His loving hand until He is able to see His image in us. God says to us in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” God has a plan for us in our suffering and be assured, tonight, that he will see his plan to completion. Paul said in Philippians 1:6, “that we can be confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
So…We should rejoice in our sufferings because Suffering qualifies us to share in the glory of Jesus, God uses suffering to make us disciples, and finally, we should rejoice in our sufferings because…
3. Suffering Affords us the Opportunity to Experience God’s Power
2 Corinthians 1:5 says, “For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.” It is in the times of suffering that we learn to “trust in the Lord with all our hearts and lean not on our own understanding”… our own ability, our own resources, our own skill. It is in these times that we become utterly weak and helpless, and completely dependent upon Him. In 2 Corinthians 1 Paul was telling about the trouble he experienced while in the province of Asia. He said, “We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it. In fact,” he says, “we expected to die. But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely ONLY ON GOD.” And so, when we come to the place of complete dependence on God, through our suffering, we then experience the power of God that sustains us through all our circumstances. The Lord said to Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:9, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." And so Paul’s response was and ours should also be, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Therefore, let’s do as Paul suggests in Romans 5:3 tonight, and REJOICE IN OUR SUFFERINGS, instead of suffering in our sufferings, and learn to sing, in defiance to the enemy of our souls,
“No matter what comes my way… I lift my voice and say…Hallelujah Anyhow!!”
By Paul Clayton -- Paul Clayton is a dedicated Husband, Father and Christian. He is a Minister and an International Evangelist. He is one of the Mount Paran Choir members, singing as "Bass" singer. Also he travel many Countries with Mount Paran Mission Team to places such as India, Africa, Central America and many other places. - Paul is also a blessed businessman Owner of Builders Floor Covering.
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