Why Christians Suffer: PART 3

Beginning of Series

Do such Scripture as “he who endures to the end will be saved” imply that suffering (enduring hardship/oppression) is an unavoidable aspect of Spirit-filled living?

Salvation might begin with a one-off prayer but, to honor biblical revelation, our understanding of salvation must progress to incorporate Scriptures as:

Matthew 10:22 You will be hated by all men for my name’s sake, but he who endures to the end will be saved.

Matthew 24:12-13 . . . iniquity will be multiplied, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end, the same will be saved.

Hebrews 10:36 You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.

Revelation 2:7 . . . To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

(Emphasis mine, NIV last two quotes.)

For more such Scriptures see The Need to Endure below:

The Need to Endure

Hebrews 12:3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Hebrews 6:12 We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.

James 1:12 Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial [or endures temptation] because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

Revelation 13:10 If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity he will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword he will be killed. This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints.

Revelation 14:12 This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God’s commandments and remain faithful to Jesus.

(Emphasis Mine)

Does this mean victorious Christians have much to endure?

Is spiritual life like a romance novel in which we eventually realize Jesus is the one for us, we excitedly accept his proposal, and the story ends? Or is life with God – and spiritual success and failure – all about what happens after we commence our union with Christ?

At least nine times the New Testament likens our spiritual life to a prolonged event where athletes compete for a prize. Is this a favorite with the Bible because athletes are expected to embrace pain and give their utmost? Athletes who act this way win acclaim, whereas those who slacken off before the race or game or fight is over are dismissed as fools. No matter how brilliantly or heroically quitters perform early on, instead of being hailed as winners, they are shunned as an embarrassment. The Word of God sees this as so important that we read:

1 Corinthians 9:24-27 Don’t you know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run like that, that you may win. Every man who strives in the games exercises self-control in all things. Now they do it to receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible. I therefore run like that, as not uncertainly. I fight like that, as not beating the air, but I beat my body and bring it into submission, lest by any means, after I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected.

Philippians 3:13-14 Brothers, I don’t regard myself as yet having taken hold, but one thing I do. Forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Acts 20:24 . . . bonds and afflictions wait for me. But these things don’t count; nor do I hold my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy . . .

Galatians 2:2 . . . for fear that I might be running, or had run, in vain.

Galatians 5:7 You were running well! Who interfered with you . . . ?

1 Timothy 6:12 Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you confessed the good confession in the sight of many witnesses.

2 Timothy 2:5 . . . if anyone competes in athletics, he isn’t crowned unless he has competed by the rules.

2 Timothy 4:7 I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith.

Hebrews 12:1 Therefore let us also, seeing we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.

It’s sobering to see in the above even the mighty apostle Paul writing this way about himself.

It is not, of course, that we compete against each other, but the emphasis is upon continued persistence lest one lose.

Jesus, too, said such things as, many are invited, but few end up chosen (Matthew 22:14). In fact, in at least nineteen of his parables, the critical factor is not how things were early on, but much later, at harvest time, or when the master or bridegroom or Judgment Day arrived – or however the parable went.

The Sower – Matthew 13:3-9; Mark 4:3-9; Luke 8:5-8

The Tares – Matthew 13:24-30

The Barren Fig Tree – Luke 13:6-9

The Wise and Foolish Builders – Matthew 7:24-27; Luke 6:46-49

Calculating the Cost of a Tower – Luke 14:28-30

Assessing the Risk of Going to War – Luke 14:31-32

The Unforgiving Servant – Matthew 18:23-35

The Growing Seed – Mark 4:26-29

The Rich Fool – Luke 12:16-21

The Prodigal Son and his Brother – Luke 15:11-32

The Rich Man and Lazarus – Luke 16:19-31

The Master and Servant – Luke 17:7-10

The Two Sons – Matthew 21:28-32

The Wicked Tenants – Matthew 21:33-41; Mark 12:1-9; Luke 20:9-16

The Great Banquet – Matthew 22:2-14; Luke 14:15-24

The Faithful Servant – Matthew 24:42-51; Mark 13:34-37; Luke 12:35-48

The Ten Virgins – Matthew 25:1-13

The Talents or Minas – Matthew 25:14-30; Luke 19:12-27

The Sheep and the Goats – Matthew 25:31-46

Consider the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:18-23), in which all sorts of scenarios are detailed:

1. The evil one snatches the word from some people’s hearts

2. Some receive the message joyfully but it ends up dying due to one of the following:

a) Trouble

b) Persecution

3. For still others, the word is choked by one of the following:

a) The worries of this life

b) The deceitfulness of wealth

c) Pleasures (Luke 8:14).

4. Others are productive, but to differing degrees:

a) A hundredfold

b) Sixtyfold

c) Thirtyfold

Although we can only expect the briefest of outlines in a parable, a huge number of differing outcomes are covered, some of which involve hardship (trouble, persecution and worries) and all of the first three categories end in spiritual disaster.

Perhaps we should note in passing that in Jesus’ explanation of the parable, wealth and physical pleasure (both of which some of us might consider the extreme opposite of suffering) is seen not as blessings but as spiritual hazards.

The spiritually discerning realize from this parable that what distinguishes those that survived is not that they were spared hardship but that they successfully endured it. This principle is seen with particular clarity in the parable of the two houses; one built on sand and the other on rock (Matthew 7:24-27). Both were assaulted by the same storm. The house that survived did so, not because it suffered less, but because, right from the beginning, adversity was anticipated. One builder had the ‘faith’ to believe conditions would always be favorable and that he could take it easy. The other considered hard times a distinct possibility. We might have thought that expecting never-ending supernatural protection from life’s storms would be displaying praiseworthy faith. Jesus, however, labeled it foolish (Matthew 7:26). Such ‘faith’ brought disaster. This is no incidental aspect of the parable but the very heart of it. Real faith is not the positivism of convincing ourselves that since God is with us, life’s gales won’t hit; it is having the resolve to stick it out, no matter how difficult things get.

Again, in the parable of the ten virgins, they all had to suffer precisely the same prolonged wait for the bridegroom, but only some coped. Again, what differentiated them was whether they expected it to be easy (Matthew 25:1-12).

The limitations of parables are such that although the story of the seeds allows for differing productivity in the plants that survived, the full picture cannot be portrayed because plants have no consciousness of loss or failure. For this, Paul fills in the gap:

1 Corinthians 3:10-15  . . . let each man be careful how he builds . . . For no one can lay any other foundation than that which has been laid, which is Jesus Christ. But if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or stubble; each man’s work will be revealed. For the Day will declare it, because it is revealed in fire; and the fire itself will test what sort of work each man’s work is. If any man’s work remains which he built on it, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, but as through fire.

(Emphasis mine.)

And suffering loss applies even to those who not only make a good start but spiritually last the distance. Beyond that, are those who do not survive at all. For some who start off well, things can turn out so disastrously that Paul considered the possibility of all his efforts in bringing certain people to Christ ending up a total waste:

Galatians 4:11 I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you.

Philippians 2:16 Do everything . . . so that you may become blameless and pure  . . . in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing.

1 Thessalonians 3:5  . . . when I could stand it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith. I was afraid that in some way the tempter might have tempted you and our efforts might have been useless. (NIV)

He even mentioned this possibility about himself:

Galatians 2:2  . . . for fear that I might be running, or had run, in vain.

Falling away can be much worse than achieving a big fat zero, however. Ponder the implications of this:

Mark 14:21  . . . It would be better for that man if he had not been born.

2 Peter 2:20 For if, after they have escaped the defilement of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in it and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.

It seems our futures hinge not on a one-off event but on continued faithfulness. And, from what we have so far seen in Scripture, it is hard to resist concluding that this could involve suffering. This message is not only crammed into the New Testament but repeated over and over in the Old – as highlighted, for example, by 1 Corinthians, which looks back at the Old, stressing that all those leaving Egypt for the Promised Land commenced with the same profound spiritual experiences. They “were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and all ate the same spiritual food; and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:1-4). Nevertheless, Paul continues, vast numbers perished in the wilderness because few remained faithful when the going got tough (1 Corinthians 10:5-10). These tragedies, the apostle insisted, occurred and were recorded “for our admonition, on whom the ends of the ages have come (verse 11, emphasis mine – Romans 15:4 is similar). “Therefore,” concluded Paul, “let him who thinks he stands be careful that he doesn’t fall” (verse 12).

Is the time between salvation and receiving our “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21) meant to be spent idling our lives away in ease, or achieving things of eternal significance?

Jesus came that we may have life, and have it abundantly (John 10:10). He is the one who could have indulged in inconceivable opulence but chose to fast for forty days. He who could have spent eternity luxuriating in Paradise was so exhausted that he slept in a boat tossed around by a storm so severe that it terrified even professional fishermen (Matthew 8:24-26). He who could snap his fingers and miracles would materialize, spent entire nights in prayer (Luke 6:12). He who could have had ten thousand angels serving him was so overworked that he sometimes didn’t have time even to eat (Mark 6:31-34; John 4:31). Do you think pain-avoidance or lounging around would be his idea of an abundant life? Or is that more likely to be the mentality of “the last days” when people “will be lovers of self, lovers of money, . . . lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God; holding a form of godliness, but having denied its power” (2 Timothy 3:1-5)?

Ponder this again:

1 Corinthians 15:19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. (NIV)

Does this describe our view of life with God this side of Judgment Day, or has our religion somehow strayed from Biblical Christianity?

Romans 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Could oppression, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

Are you comfortable with that being in the Bible? Shouldn’t it read: Because of the love of Christ, you will have no oppression, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

Why did Paul and Barnabas return to the disciples in Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, exhorting them that “through many afflictions we must enter into God’s Kingdom” (Acts 14: 22)? Why, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, was Paul compelled to pen such words as the following?

2 Corinthians 4:8-9 We are pressed on every side, yet not crushed; perplexed, yet not to despair; pursued, yet not forsaken; struck down, yet not destroyed

2 Corinthians 6:4-10  . . . as servants of God, in great endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses, in beatings, in imprisonments, in riots, in labors, in watchings, in fastings . . . by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.

2 Corinthians 7:5  . . . our flesh had no relief, but we were afflicted on every side. Fightings were outside. Fear was inside. . . .

2 Corinthians 11:26-29 I have been in travels often, perils of rivers, perils of robbers, perils from my countrymen, perils from the Gentiles, perils in the city, perils in the wilderness, perils in the sea, perils among false brothers; in labor and travail, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, and in cold and nakedness.Besides those things that are outside, there is that which presses on me daily, anxiety for all the assemblies. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is caused to stumble, and I don’t burn with indignation?

(Emphasis mine.)

No matter how painless some preachers might make it seem, Jesus stressed that the cost is high:

Luke 14:28-32 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, doesn’t first sit down and count the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it? Or perhaps, when he has laid a foundation, and is not able to finish, everyone who sees begins to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build, and wasn’t able to finish.’

Or what king, as he goes to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends an envoy, and asks for conditions of peace.

There is a need to rest in God and let him be our strength, our righteousness, our victory, our shield, our life and our wisdom; drawing from him everything we need, for “of him, and through him, and to him, are all things” (Romans 11:36). He is our beginning and end (Revelation 21:6), the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). Our growth comes from him, not from our efforts.

1 Corinthians 3:6-7 I planted. Apollos watered. But God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.

Ephesians 4:16 From him [Christ] the whole body . . . grows and builds itself up (NIV)

Colossians 2:19 . . . the Head [Christ], from whom all the body . . . grows with God’s growth.

But don’t we, precisely because of this, need to devote ourselves to Christ; making him our Lord, serving him, obeying him and delighting in him? He must be the love of our lives, our joy, our hope, our reason for living. Our entire lives must revolve around him.

And what we have seen so far seems to indicate that resting in God is not incompatible with Christians having to endure hardship.

What Does God Expect Christians to Endure?

We mentioned Paul detailing how so many started with powerful spiritual experiences and yet perished in the wilderness because they failed to faithfully cling to God when things got tough.

The same message is packed into the rest of the Old Testament, with warnings and further stories from throughout Israel’s history of appallingly vast numbers of people falling away, and of individuals like Esau, Balaam (note), Saul, Solomon and others, who started off well but fell into error.

Whether it be of a servant, a son, or a lover, faithfulness is expected. God’s love is such that he longs to enter into mutual, never-ending devotion with us. It hardly bodes well if we cannot keep this up even for our few years on earth. The divine principle is spelled out here:

Ezekiel 18:24-32 But when the righteous turns away from his righteousness . . . shall he live? None of his righteous deeds that he has done shall be remembered . . . Again, when the wicked man turns away from his wickedness that he has committed, and does that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive. . . . Return, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin . . . and make yourself a new heart and a new spirit: for why will you die, house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him who dies, says the Lord God: therefore turn yourselves, and live.

The God who graciously disregards our sins when we wholeheartedly return to him, disregards our service when we desert him.

It is not, of course, that we should be panicking over our salvation. Our God is mighty to save. But does the Bible present life after salvation as putting our feet up until we get to heaven? Or does it keep emphasizing that what we do with the rest of our stay on the planet is critical in determining our destiny, and can even impact the destinies of those whose lives we touch?

Jesus refused to make it easy for would-be followers. To various ones he said:

* “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

* “Leave the dead to bury their own dead . . .”

* “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for God’s Kingdom.”

(Luke 9:57-62)

Was Jesus needlessly harsh or could it be that hard times are so much the norm for Christians that steely resolve is a basic requirement for all would-be followers?

We rightly expect our Savior to always be here for us. And he deserves nothing less from us. We are God’s representatives, not spasmodically but 24/7; not only in the thrill of first love but when the going gets tough. We are not paid by the hour like laborers. As family, we are expected to keep pressing on with our life’s work beyond normal working hours, and enjoy the rewards forever.

Divine promises can come with provisos our eye sometimes slips over, For example, “he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation – if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel” (Colossians 1:22-23, NIV). Consider also:

Galatians 6:9 Let us not be weary in doing good, for we will reap in due season, if we don’t give up.

Hebrews 3:14 For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm to the end

Biblical Christianity is about love, joy, peace and rejoicing, but at times will this be in spite of hardship, not instead of it? There will be miracles, but will they sometimes be miracles of endurance of the order of those heroes of the Faith who “were tortured, not accepting their deliverance . . . Others were tried by mocking and scourging . . . imprisonment . . . stoned . . . sawn apart . . . tempted. . . . They went around in sheep skins and in goat skins; being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated . . . wandering in deserts, mountains, caves, and the holes of the earth. . . .” (Hebrews 11:35-39)?

The stakes could not be higher. We are in a spiritual war zone. Quoting from the NIV:

2 Timothy 2:4 No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs – he wants to please his commanding officer.

1 Peter 2:11 . . . I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.

The Story So Far

We will seek biblical clarification later. For now, I will leave it to you to decide how little or how much suffering could be involved for the devout Christian who “endures to the end,” or “overcomes” (Revelation 2:7; 2:11; 2:26; 3:5; 3:12; 3:21; 12:11; 21:7) or in “having done all, to stand,” (Ephesians 6:13). The biblical truth explored in this section, however, is yet another pointer to the steely resolve our Lord expects Christians to develop.

As part of the issue of why Christians suffer, we must tackle this question: When Christians suffer, is it typically an act of heroism or spiritual ignorance? Rather than jumping to hasty conclusions, we will continue gathering evidence from the Word of God.

Before moving on, however, let’s bring together a little of what we have so far discovered. We saw Jesus warning about counting the cost and, by making it tough for would-be followers, indicating upfront that they could expect a demanding time. The parables of the two houses in the storm and the ten virgins both indicate our expectations regarding what we might encounter are critically important to our spiritual survival. We also noted the apostles strengthening/encouraging/establishing (various renderings of the Greek word used) the disciples by saying that “through many afflictions we must enter into God’s Kingdom.” The apostles acted as if it were vital for the believers’ spiritual well-being that they understand this. This message is further strengthened by many other Scriptures, such as “don’t be astonished at the fiery trial . . . as though a strange thing happened to you” (1 Peter 4:12).

Where We are Headed

We are working our way toward grappling with this question: should we worship our suffering Lord not only as our Savior but as our Inspiration and Role Model, who lived in human flesh to show us how to live, and endured to show us how to endure? Or should we treat Christ solely as our Savior, who suffered in our stead so that we can avoid all suffering? Let’s ponder a smaller question first.

Continued: Part 4