What if I told you that the greatest joy that a Christian can have is the joy found in suffering? I am certain that you would look at me and label me to be a madman because we live in a world that tells us that the greatest joy that a Christian can have is one of blessing. While I don’t dispute blessings from God been great joys I just want to point you to some of the great men who found a pure joy which was with without blemish in their suffering: Stephen (Acts 7:54-56), Paul (Colossians 1:24-29, 2 Corinthians 11:16-33, 12:1-10), Job (Job 1-42), Joseph (Gen 37-50) and most importantly Jesus who through His sufferings on the cross became a propitiation for your sins so that you may be put right with God (Romans 3:21-26, 1 John 2:1-2). All these great men I have brought to your attention just to list a few suffered unspeakable horrors for the glory of God’s name and yet never lost their joy. By the way, bear in mind I am not saying happiness cause any sort of pain even a slight headache hurts and disorients you so I wouldn’t expect this suffering not to have brought loads of tears to their eyes or a lot of physical harm but the thing is it never strayed them from the path rather it strengthened their faith in Christ to the point where Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12:10 that he gladly boasts of his weaknesses for the glory of God.
So why are we mandated to rejoice in our suffering? What possible reward could doing that bring to our doorstep as Christians? The answers are found in Romans 5:3-5, Colossians 1:24-29 and we will tackle each answer one by one and hopefully by the time you read the last word on this article I will have shown why there is true joy in suffering.
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knowing that suffering produces endurance; (Romans 5:3)
“Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing…….. Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.” – James 1:2-4; 12
To illustrate the first three points, I will use the example of someone who is working out for the first time ever. When someone begins working out it isn’t exactly peaches and cream so much so that by the end of the day this person ponders on two things that are quitting or persisting the more in order to achieve their dream body. If they quit that’s it and all they were trying to achieve are lost but if they persist and continue pushing through the exertion that comes from it then that exertion becomes less and less the more they continue to the point when it feels non-existent. That is the endurance we are talking of; for a Christian, this endurance strengthens your faith so that as James says you become perfect and complete so that no matter what the world throws at you it just breaks when it touches you because as a result of God’s sanctifying grace you have become a fortress for the glory of God’s name.
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and endurance produces character; (Romans 5:4a)
“Whether God tests us directly or uses Satan to challenge us, He will always use the situation to eventually produce good fruit in us.” – John MacArthur on tests, temptations and trials. (Daily Readings from The Life of Christ)
So everyone who has endured the strenuous process of working out always develops a certain habit and character as they come to enjoy what they do and they never constantly want to lag behind in their workout schedule so it becomes a daily routine for them not out of obligation but out of enjoyment of what they are doing. The same thing applies to us Christians as well, as John MacArthur says in the quote above any test, trial, or tribulation we may face is meant to produce good fruits in us thus building our character in Christ and what are some of these fruits that are produced in us: there is love for God, His Word as well as your fellow brother and sister; persistence in prayer; patience and if suffering for the sake of Christ draws us closer to Him as a result of constantly and consistently praying and reading His Word isn’t that something that should bring joy to your face as a Christian. I am certain you’d be hard-pressed to say no.
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and character produces hope; (Romans 5:4b)
“and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” – Romans 5:5
What is this hope that Paul speaks of? Both James and he are among the people to have an answer to this question. James in James 1:12 and Paul in both Romans 8:17 & 2 Timothy 4:7-8 and that is, for those who undergo trials for the sake of Christ well they will simply be given the crown of life, be adopted as sons and daughters of God and will be glorified just as Christ was glorified, that is one of the hopes we hold out for. The second answer to this is given by Paul in his second letter to the Corinthians, which in actual context is more of assurance than hope but in our suffering, it is something we hope for;
“And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore, I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong” – 2 Corinthians 12:9-10
That is another hope that we hold out for that in our weakness God’s grace may be perfected so that through it we are made strong so much so that we boast of our weaknesses. When one works out, they do so holding out for the hope that it will result in their dream body, as Christians not only do we hold out for the hope of receiving the perfect body in Jesus but also we have the assurance that it will be so.
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Our suffering acts as a personal presentation to peoples who are not aware of the infinite worth that came with Christ’s afflictions (Colossians 1:24-29)
“Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions. Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose, also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.” – Colossians 1:24-29
Now before we expound on this let’s get one thing clear; by no means are we filing up what was lacking in Christ’s sacrifice as that sacrifice lacked nothing and its perfection was absolute thus my goal here isn’t to give mandates that aren’t biblically mandated. However, as John Piper says
“It is lacking in nothing, except one thing, a personal presentation by Christ Himself to the nations of the world.” (Desiring God, Pages 269-270)
That’s because as the Bible tells us he is seated at His Father’s right hand interceding for us (Romans 8:34). Let’s take a painting for example, through it we see the artist’s thoughts, feelings, and way of life as they desire and as a result, it may or may not ignite the emotions, they are expressing in us. Now those who suffer for & in Christ are the painting meant not manifest His afflictions and the end result is bringing the elect, eternal joy in Christ. So, in short, the reward rejoicing in our suffering brings us here is that through it we exhibit the sufferings of Christ to those who we are trying to win to Christ and to finish I will quote John Piper once more
“Here is the astounding upshot: God intends for the afflictions of Christ to be presented to the world through the afflictions of his people.
God really means for the body of Christ, the church, to experience some of the suffering he experienced so that when we proclaim the cross as the way to life, people will see the marks of the cross in us and feel the love of the cross from us.” (Desiring God, Pages 269-270).
Suffering is truly a Joy to behold.
In Luke 18: 1-8, Jesus narrates the parable of the unrighteous judge and the persistent widow. His use of this parable gives the comparison between the unrighteous judge and God and basically asks the question if the unrighteous judge heeded to the call of the widow how much more will a righteous God heed to the calls of those who suffer for His sake but in spite of all that suffering consistently glorify God and are persistent in prayer. The answer comes from 2 Timothy 4;7-8, as Paul who literally exemplified a life of joy in suffering for God (2 Corinthians 11:16-33) says such people will in the future find a crown of righteousness laid up for them and the Lord, the righteous judge will award them on that day.
“The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him…………. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren” – Romans 8:16-17,29.
So why do I call suffering for God, joy well the answer now is rather simple isn’t it, it is because our suffering has meaning but also that it is a representation of the manifestation of God’s glory through the death of His son but most importantly it is because of the glory that will be bestowed on those who suffer with Christ at the end of the age. That is truly a joy, isn’t it?
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