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Chapter 12
Suffering Through Grace
For every man suffering is an unpleasant experience. It is an evil which we try to avoid, an enemy which we dread and from which we try to escape, or from whose clutches we desperately struggle to liberate ourselves. Suffering is something which we naturally dislike, whatever form it may assume, whether that of bodily pain and agony, or of grief and sorrow of soul, or of shame and reproach of our person. If it is cowardice to shrink from suffering in itself, when no other and higher interest demands it, no nobler motive prompts us to choose it, all men are cowards. To like suffering is a contradiction in terms. And in the state of final perfection, in the new creation, when God's tabernacle shall be with men, all sorrow and crying shall flee away forever, and God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes. Yet in certain circumstances, under certain conditions, suffering is very definitely to be preferred and to be chosen deliberately. This is true even with respect to certain natural and earthly conditions and relations which may arise in human life. A father will fly in the face of danger and death and throw himself into the smoke and flame of his burning house when he discovers that one of his children was left behind in the fire. A mother will protect her darling with her own body against an enemy far more powerful than she. A government may, under certain conditions, prefer all the agonies of war to the enjoyment of peace. But this is always and supremely true when suffering must be endured for righteousness' sake. It is immeasurably better and preferable to suffer and remain on the side of righteousness, Christ, God, than to avoid suffering by denying the name of our Lord and choosing for ourselves the way of the flesh and of the world. When we face the alternative of an ethical, spiritual evil or suffering for righteousness' sake, it is infinitely to be preferred to choose the latter than to commit the former. This truth is strongly emphasized in Scripture by precept and example. On the one hand, they who are saved by grace and work out their own salvation in this world are warned that they must expect suffering with Christ and for His sake. The Lord Jesus declares that :'If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." (Matthew 16:24) "And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it." (Matthew 10:38, 39) He warns His disciples that the days will come when they shall deliver them up to be afflicted, and shall kill them; and they shall be hated of all nations for His name's sake. (Matthew 24:9) And He explains to them that if they were of the world, the world would love its own; but because they are not of the world, but He has chosen them out of the world, therefore the world hates them. But they must remember that it hated Him before it hated them. (John 15:18, 19) And the time will even come that "whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service." (John 16:2) And in this suffering for Christ's sake all the saints that have gone before are our examples. For they had "trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword; they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth." (Hebrews 11: 3 6- 3 8) On the other hand, Scripture emphasizes everywhere that the believer must always prefer suffering to fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, and that in his very suffering he has abundant reasons to rejoice. "We glory in tribulations also," the apostle writes in Romans 5:3. "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations," James exhorts us. (James 1:2) "If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye: for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified." (I Peter 4: 14) And the Lord Jesus teaches us: "Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for their's is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake." (Matthew 5:10, 11) And so the Scriptures admonish us that we should be faithful even unto death, that we may obtain the crown of life. (Revelation 2: 10) Now also this blessing and spiritual virtue, whereby we discern and choose suffering for Christ's sake as something preferable to freedom from suffering in the way of unrighteousness, is a gift of grace. For so the apostle writes to the church of Philippi and to the believers of all ages: "For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake." (Philippians 1:29) It is given us - and in the original we read "it is given you by grace" - in the behalf of Christ to suffer for His sake. Let us consider this marvelous gift of grace a little more closely. What does it r,lean to suffer in the behalf of Christ and for His sake? We may notice that in the immediate context of the text in Philippians the apostle admonished the believers that they should walk as it "becometh the gospel of Christ," that they should stand fast in one spirit, and thus should strive together for the gospel of Christ. Briefly, this means that they must walk as children of light in the midst of the world, united unto the one purpose to maintain, proclaim, testify of the gospel of Christ, and manifest the beauty and grace of that gospel in their whole life. At the same time, the apostle had suggested that if they so walked and contended for the faith of the gospel, there would be adversaries who would oppose them and cause them to suffer. But they must not be terrified on their account: for this persecution and opposition is to the enemy a sure token of perdition, but to the believer a testimony of God, a sign of salvation. For it is given to him of grace in the behalf of Christ to suffer for His sake. To suffer in the behalf of Christ, therefore, means, first of all, to suffer because of Him and because of all that He represents. Christ has a cause in this world. It is the cause of the kingdom of God, the cause of God's covenant, His Name, His glory, His righteousness. That cause of God must be represented. When Christ Himself was in the world, He contended for this cause in person; and the world hated Him and opposed Him and caused Him to suffer exactly because He strove for and represented the cause of God, of His righteousness and truth. Now Christ is no more personally in this world. He was crucified and was raised from the dead, and is exalted to the highest glory at the right hand of God. However, He is very really in His church, in His saints, in whom He dwells by His Spirit and whom He calls and instructs through His Word. Through them He still represents and contends for the cause of God in the world. He becomes manifest in and through them. And so, by His grace, believers represent the cause of Christ. And if you suffer in the behalf of Christ and for His sake, it is this fact, that Christ becomes revealed in you, in your walk and confession in this world, that is the occasion of your suffering. You suffer literally because of the Person of Christ. It is Christ Who is hated by the world. It is Christ Whom they want to kill with their reproach. They really want to kill Christ and empty the vials of their hatred over His head. And since they cannot reach Him personally any more, seeing that He is in glory, they hate and persecute those who represent Him, in whom He becomes manifest in' the world. But, secondly, to suffer in the behalf of Christ also implies the idea of suffering for the advantage and benefit of Christ. Christ must be revealed. His name may not remain hid but must be made manifest. The glory and beauty of His power and grace must be fully shown forth and declared in all the world, and that, not only in order that His church may be gathered and His kingdom may be extended, but also that the world may be condemned and the unfruitful works of darkness may be rebuked. This cause believers must serve. And to serve this cause they must suffer, in order that the measure of iniquity may be filled, sin may become fully manifest as enmity against God, and the evil world may become ripe for the day of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God. Because of Christ, but also in the interest of the cause of Christ, it is given to the saints in this world to suffer for His sake. Now in order to understand how Scripture can speak of this suffering as a gift of grace, we must note that it is voluntary. It is a form of suffering which under certain conditions believers deliberately choose. This is not true of the suffering of this present time in general. When sickness attacks your frame, or when sorrow and death enter your home, you have no choice. This kind of suffering is simply inflicted upon you without your will. You cannot avoid or escape it. But in regard to the suffering in the behalf of Christ this is different. You are placed before an alternative, and you must make a choice. The alternative is always suffering with Christ, or freedom from that suffering with Belial; the reproach of Christ, or the pleasures of the world; fellowship with Christ in His death, or fellowship with the world in its life. And he who suffers in the behalf of Christ makes a decision. He considers the alternatives and evaluates them in order to determine what is preferable. And he reaches the conclusion that the reproach of Christ is to be esteemed far greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, that it is far preferable to die with Christ than to live with Belial. And having reached this conclusion, he follows it up to the very end: he deliberately chooses to suffer with Christ, and without hesitation he rejects the proffered deliverance that is presented to him on condition that he will deny Christ and walk in the way of the world. It is thus that the prophets and apostles and all the Bible saints suffered. They were "tortured, not accepting deliverance." (Hebrews 11: 3 5) It was thus that the martyrs of the early church chose to suffer with Christ. They were placed before the alternative of being dumped alive into a seething caldron of boiling oil, or making a bow as a sign of worship to Caesar. And it was often made extremely easy for them, so easy that in our day we would probably discover a thousand reasons why we would be allowed to choose the latter. They were permitted to maintain their confession that Christ is Lord, if only by a slight bow to the image of Caesar they would admit that the Roman emperor was also Lord. But in the behalf of Christ they deliberately chose the awful dcath of the seething caldron, not accepting deliverance, insisting that Christ is the Lord alone! It is thus that the martyrs of the Reformation preferred the repro: of Christ. The instruments of horrible torture to which they were subjected by the Spanish Inquisition may still be seen in some parts of the old world, where they have been preserved as a silent testimony of the faith of these faithful witnesses. They were stretched on the rack, and placed before the choice of renouncing their faith or being torn apart limb by limb. But they preferred the latter, not accepting deliverance. And so, the saints have been cast into dungeons, have been killed by the sword, burned at the stake, thrown before the wild beasts, and become the offscouring of the world because of the witness of God and the faith of the gospel. And how about us? This form of persecution does not exist in our land, though in other lands thousands have suffered and do suffer for Christ's sake even today. But even though the laws of our own country do not permit such cruel forms of persecution, is therefore the Word of the Lord Jesus no longer true, that they shall hate us even as they hated Him? Must not also today the faithful, who do not hide their light and who refuse to have fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness and to put on another yoke with the unbeliever, suffer reproach, mockery, and shame? Are we, too, not frequently confronted with the alternative of suffering the loss of position and name, of a job and our business, unless we will deny our faith and become amalgamated with the ungodly world? And what is our choice? Listen! The choice of him who lives by grace is to suffer in the behalf of Christ! To choose the world, its name and glory, its treasures and pleasures, our job and position, even our life, is, to say the least, not to live by grace. For it is given you of grace, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake! Yes, indeed, only through the power of God's marvelous grace in Christ Jesus, that redeemed us from sin, that delivered us from the dominion of corruption, that translated us out of darkness into His marvelous light, and that is still working within us to will and to do of His good pleasure, can this choice be made. By nature we will always choose the world, our present life, our name and job and earthly prosperity. The natural man cannot possibly understand that the reproach of Christ must be esteemed greater riches than the treasures of the world. How could he? He is without God in the world, and with this world all his life is bound up. For, first of all, by grace it is given us to believe in Christ. And believing in Him, by that faith we live out of Him, and He lives in us. And living out of Him, we are new creatures. We have a radically new way of judging and evaluating things, so that we consider that the statutes of the Lord are more to be desired than much fine gold, and consider all things but dross for the excellency of Christ Jesus our Lord. In that light we do, indeed, discern that it is far better to lose the whole world than to be unfaithful to our Lord. But, secondly, through that grace we also look forward to a better resurrection and know that if here we suffer with Christ, we shall also be glorified with Him. To suffer with Christ is a great blessing. For, first of all, the very consciousness that we are deemed worthy, together with all the saints, to suffer in His behalf and for righteousness' sake, affords us unspeakable joy and profound peace. Secondly, there is a present fruit which is reaped in the way of this suffering: for tribulation worketh patience, and patience the approved state, and the approved state hope: and hope maketh not ashamed! (Romans 5:3-5) Finally, there is at the end of this road of suffering for Christ's sake - and mark you well: at the end of no other road - the crown of life, the glory with Christ! And the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with that glory. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven! |
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