Sharing in Christ's suffering

December 12, 2012

My daughter texted yesterday, excited to tell me that one of our favorite actors, David Suchet, (Hercule Poirot) is a follower of Jesus.  The story is that one day in 1986, in his hotel room, Suchet picked up a Gideon’s Bible.  He opened to Romans 8 – and he just couldn’t stop reading! 

Well, Romans 8 certainly is a good place to start.  I mentioned one of my favorites verses, 28, in a recent post.  Another favorite is verse 18, “ I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”  That verse has always been a great comfort to me during hard times; but, it has come to have a richer meaning to me recently.

You see, I used to think Paul was talking about the glory of heaven in general.  The thought that my suffering will someday end and be replaced with something glorious certainly was encouraging; but, that understanding left me wondering:  If that glorious future is the destiny of everyone who is in Jesus, why do some have to suffer so much in this life?  What is the point of the pain if, in the end, we all will have the same moral perfection and we all will have the same experience of glory?

There is a clue to the answer in the previous verse.  “And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory.  But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.”  (New Living Translation)  Yes, we who are children of God are heirs of God’s glory.  However, Paul says, there is an important qualifier:  If we want to share in God’s glory, we also have to share in his suffering.  While we are heirs of his glory if we are in Christ Jesus, we will share in that glory only to the extent that we share in Christ’s suffering.  The more we suffer, the greater will be our inheritance.  Wow!  That may not leave you exclaiming, “Bring it on!”; but, it certainly is encouraging, isn't it?

But wait, you say.  I’m suffering, sure; but, I’m not suffering for Jesus’ sake.  I’m not being persecuted for being a Christian - or anything like that.  So, my suffering doesn’t qualify.  Ahh, go back to the verse.  It doesn’t say that we must suffer for Christ’s sake, it says that we must “share in his suffering” if we are to share in his glory.  So, what sort of suffering did Jesus endure?   Well, even before he suffered torture and the cross, Jesus suffered the usual pains and deprivations of life.  He became tired.  He became hungry.  He often had no comfortable place to sleep.

He bore all of the same sorts of things you and I endure; though, he felt them more acutely because he had a clearer understanding of just how wrong things are in this world.  He keenly felt His separation from the Father.  He felt the sting of rejection.  He felt the pain of people’s waywardness and sinfulness.  He felt compassion for the suffering.  He cried at Lazarus’s death because of the sadness of His friends.  Then, finally, he endured the whippings and the cross.

All these Jesus suffered.  But for the torture and the cross, they are not unlike some of our sufferings.  Jesus willingly left glory to endure these for our sake.  We, too, can willingly accept the pain and deprivations of life in order to serve God and others.  To the extent we suffer our pain, as Jesus did, in faith and faithfulness, we will share in Christ’s glory. 

Think about that!  We are being offered the opportunity to one day share in the very glory that Jesus is right now experiencing!  The more faithful we are, the more glorious will be our experience of  heaven!

So, suffer with great hope!  “Leap for joy!” as Jesus said, “because great is your reward in heaven.”