Suffering

Recently a pioneer, cross cultural missionary named Martin Goldsmith visited our church and spoke at our Sunday Morning gathering. His message was full of insight and challenge but one particular thing he said stood out to me above the rest:

“God shows himself not by leading Christians out of suffering, but actually in the suffering itself.”

This sentence is short and simple. I’ve heard it before. What it’s saying isn’t new. And yet when he said it, something in me awoke and I suddenly realized for the first time that although the sentence may be simple, the message is not. I may have heard it before but I’ve previously missed the point completely. What it’s saying isn’t new and yet I don’t think I’ve properly understood at all. So since that gathering I’ve been on a bit of a theological journey exploring this idea at greater depth:just how does God show himself through Christians’suffering?(Warning... This is a long one... But stick with it!)

Often I’ve reduced God showing himself in Christiansufferingto simply mean that a Christian going throughsufferingcanpersonallylearn more about God during that time. And this is true. They often learn lots!

People who suffer because of great need often learn that God is a provider and sustainer.
People who suffer through mourning often learn that God is a great comforter.
People who suffer with sickness often learn that God is a healer and a bringer of peace.
People who suffer through persecution learn that God is their sustainer and protector.
Sometimes people’s suffering reveals to them God’s discipline.
Sometime’s people’s suffering reveals to them their need for God.
And sometimes people’s suffering reveals that their faith isn’t as strong as they thought it was.

But these are all examples of how God can show himself by ending or leading Christian’s out of suffering. So what about God showing himself in the suffering itself... This I believe happens too:

Its often in times of crisis when we’re more reliant on God and because we’re more reliant we become more aware of Him at work and learn more about Him through the way we see Him working. People in the Bible testify to this, I can testify to this. You probably know others who can testify to this too. BUT while that’s all true and all good I think the idea that God shows himself through Christians’ suffering is deeper than simply what the person suffering canpersonallylearn during those times...

So... another way I have understood the idea of God showing himself through suffering is in terms of what thosearoundsuffering Christians can learn about God. This happens in a couple of ways:

Those who are suffering can share with others what they’re learning about God and those they’re sharing with can see the evidence of God at work in their lives. So miraculous provision or healing or protection are all common ways that God shows himself through a Christian’s suffering to those around them. Again though these are examples of God showing himself by ending or leading Christians out of suffering... What about in the suffering itself...

A Christian’s faithful persevering in faith in spite of crisis can often speak wonders. Tom Wright (yes him again... I can’t deny... I’m a bit of a fan boy!) talks about how the absolute commitment of the early church to their message despite being greatly persecuted and often killed is evidence that, if nothing else, they believed their message was true. After all, if they didn’t believe it was true, why stick to it when life got so hard! So even through persistent faith, God reveals something of Himself to those around a person who is suffering - that He is valuable enough to suffer for, or valuable enough to hold on to in spite of suffering.

Again, this is all true and all good. BUT... I still think there is something deeper still to the idea that God shows himself in a Christian’s suffering to those around them...

Christians often talk about how God is committed to this world. And that certainly seems to be what the Bible says. If, like me, you grew up in the church, you probably had the classic verse John 3:16 drummed into the deepest recesses of your memory by the time you were 5. So... All together now...

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (you may even know verse 17 too) “God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but to save it through Him.”

Now to get a bit technical quickly, the word for “world” here is “kovsmoß” which is better translated “cosmos” - the entire created order. So in these verses we’re told that God loves the entire created universe, and is seeking to save the whole created order - not just people - by choosing to give up all his epic God-ness and become one of us: a normal hairy human being who farts and gets B.O and stuff...

This choice to give up His status as God and become a normal human being is called the incarnation.And I think you’ll agree, its a fairly good demonstration of God’s commitment to earth: I mean, if I was enjoying epic God-ness, I don’t think I’d give it up to become normal. I struggle enough to give up my middle class Britishness let alone absolute power and knowledge! But God did! And when God became human... He spent a considerable amount of time dealing with people’s suffering:

He fed people
He healed people
He calmed storms
He forgave people
He gave people new social status
He freed people from demonic forces
He enabled people to live happier, healthier lives.

There are many stories and examples of the ways Jesus showed the nature and character of God by leading them out of their suffering. But he also told his disciples that they could expect to suffer. In fact, those disciples, who Jesus appointed to continue his work of showing people who God was were warned that they would suffer greatly for doing so, and they did... in pretty grim ways!

But as I said earlier, they didn’t give up in their mission. Their persistence demonstrated not just that God was personally valuable to them and capable of sustaining them, but that God was fully committed to His entire created cosmos. And His mission to save it wasn’t going to be stopped by suffering!

But, there is I believe an even further depth to the idea of God showing himself through Christian’s suffering:

Beyond it showing aspects of God to the person suffering (which it does),
Beyond it showing the rescuing of God to those around a person suffering (which it does),
Beyond it showing the value of God to those around a person suffering (which it does),
Beyond it showing God’s absolute commitment to the world (which it does),
I think it shows God’s power over sin and death and suffering.

“Wait... WHAT?!” I hear you cry dramatically as in surprise you spew your coffee all over your screen. “How can the ongoing suffering of Christians show that God has defeated suffering...!” And yes I suppose you’re right to be surprised. This is a paradox. But the Bible is full of these: Jesus being an impossible man-God character is a walking talking paradox! So let me explain...

Jesus died. Fact. He was then resurrected. Fact. These 2 monumental events happened to show that God is more powerful than death itself, and would not allow death to continue to dictate the fate of His creation.

Jesus had to physically die and be physically resurrected to demonstrate God’s commitment to redeeming physical things. The world is subject tophysical suffering and eventual death so Jesus had to physically suffer and physically die and then physically resurrect to show that God is victorious over that suffering and death. By not being stopped by even death, Jesus prophetically showed that God is bigger and better and more powerful than death is.

As the church, we are now Christ’s body on earth - called to continue showing the world the truths about God that Jesus showed when he was here. This includes demonstrating that God is more powerful then suffering and death. So when we suffer or are even martyred but continue unfazed in our mission to share our message with the world we not only show that we are whole heartedly committed, like God, to the saving of this world but also, like Jesus, prophetically demonstrate that God is victorious over suffering and death.

This doesn’t mean that we don’t suffer. Jesus said to his disciples that they are blessedwhen(not if!) they are insulted and persecuted because they follow him. This word “blessed” can be understood to mean that “God is on your side when...” which equally could be understood thatwe are on God’s side- doing his work - when we experience suffering because of our living as Christians.

A lot of the letters of the New Testament that were written to encourage the early Christians acknowledge that suffering is part of the package. But suffering is always referred to in the context of hope. They were hopeful because they knew that although they lived with “present suffering” these things were now only temporary because God, through Jesus’ death and resurrection had kick-started the new creation of this world, where suffering and death, whilst currently having an impact, did not have the final word. And, as Paul often points out, those suffering now, were spurred on by the knowledge that they will one day have a new resurrected life after this one has ended where suffering will not feature.

So yes, its a paradox, but our continued faiththroughsuffering actually prophetically shows the power of Godoversuffering, even when the suffering isn’t ended. So, what does this mean for you or I today? Now... Honesty time...

Although the title of this blog entry is “Suffering” and has to do with the suffering of Christians, I am not claiming that I personally live a life in which I suffer. I am not deluded! My life is surprisingly comfortable - as evidenced by the fact that I’m currently typing in my nice warm office at my place of employment on my MacBook pro! I also live in a country where Christians, apart from having some of their values challenged by the state - do notreallysuffer. I live a very fortunate life.

Is this a problem? Should I be seeking out suffering? I suppose that depends on who you are speaking to. I’m sure Shane Claiborne would have a thing or two to say to me! And I’m sure he would be justified in doing so. But to weasel out of that conversation for the moment I think it’s one for another other day because this post is already very long (well done you for reading this far!). What I would say though is that whilst suffering isn’t good in the sense that it is not part of God’s future plan for this world, it isn’t bad either in that He uses it to show Himself. So whilst suffering is not necessarily to be sought out, it is not to be avoided either. And there are very practical ways that the Bible teaches us how to suffer well. The Sermon on the Mount is a good place to start.

What I want to leave you with is that theologically, Christian suffering carries a huge amount of weight that the early Christians got and that I am only just beginning to scratch the surface of. The apostle Paul, in an uncharacteristic moment, managed to put it quite simply: “Christ in me the hope of glory.” In spite of suffering there is hope: Hope for me, hope for those around me, hope for the whole of creation; all because, thanks to Jesus Christ, through Christian suffering God shows that He is victorious.

And that’s a message that millions of faithful Christians have demonstrated is well worth suffering for!