The Christian Response to Suffering, Part Three

No Pain, No Gain

There is a necessary component of the Christian life called suffering–suffering as a Christian, suffering according to the will of God, suffering for Jesus’ sake, suffering that God ordains for each one of us. In our natural thinking, we reject this component. We kick against it and try to get out of it any way we can. But God wants to teach us that not only is suffering ordained by God and part of his plan, but it is also of inestimable worth in the life of a Christian.

To achieve anything of great value requires the pain of discipline. If you talk to Olympic athletes, they will tell you how much they suffer. They must undergo severe discipline for a very long time to compete at the level they do. In contrast, many of us do not even engage in regular physical exercise even though we know that if we did, we would be in better physical health. As we drive we look with envy at the person who is running and sweating, but we rarely discipline ourselves to get out and move our own bodies. Additionally, most of us do not like the discipline of proper diet and thus we fail to enjoy its benefit of better health. But there is no gain without pain.

Spiritual life also requires great discipline. In 1 Corinthians 9:27 Paul says, “I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.” Paul was comparing the discipline required of the Christian life with that of Olympic athletes.

Suffering is a form of discipline, and the Christian life involves suffering of many kinds. In fact, the Scripture tells us that our future glory grows out of the soil of suffering for Jesus’ sake. Let us, then, examine 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, that we may be comforted and encouraged when God ordains suffering in our lives.

The Sufferings of Paul

In 2 Corinthians 4:16 Paul begins, “Therefore, we do not lose heart. . . .” Why should Paul think about losing heart? He was experiencing much suffering. Paul described his sufferings several times in this epistle. In chapter 11, verses 23-28 we read:

Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?

In 2 Corinthians 12:7 Paul alludes to more suffering when he writes, “To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.”

This type of suffering was not peculiar to Paul. In fact, in Acts 9:16, Acts 14:22, and 2 Timothy 3:12, we learn that it is God’s divinely ordained plan that every Christian experience some kind of pressure, afflictions, distress, and troubles.

But in spite of all his suffering, both physical and mental, Paul was able to write, “We do not lose heart.” Paul was not discouraged, murmuring, and unhappy. Instead of giving up, he was persevering in the midst of suffering.

As we study this passage we want to learn how Paul was able to keep going and how we ourselves, when we experience physical and mental pressure, afflictions and troubles ordained by God, may be able to say with Paul, “We do not lose heart.”

Knowledge of the Gospel

The first reason Paul gives is found in the word “Therefore,” which points to a reason given in verse 14. There we read, “because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence.”

The first reason Paul did not lose heart was his knowledge of the gospel. Paul knew that Christ died for his sins and was raised for his justification, and he knew that the gospel would provide for the salvation of his whole person, body and soul. He knew that Jesus Christ destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light, meaning he could experience eternal life now and in the future.

Paul’s understanding of the gospel was not theoretical. He believed in it with his whole heart, mind, soul and strength, and it formed the warp and woof of his entire being. Paul delighted in the gospel, rejoiced in it, and proclaimed it. Paul enjoyed eternal life. That is why he did not give up, lose heart, or murmur.

We find similar summary statements of the gospel in several other places in the New Testament. In 1 Corinthians 6:14 we read, “By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also.” And in 1 Thessalonians 4:14 Paul begins, “We believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.” Oh, this was not a theoretical statement which had no reference to his life. “We believe” means with his whole heart Paul believed what he was saying to the Thessalonians. You see, it is Paul who also said, “If you confess with your mouth ‘Jesus is Lord’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” In other words, because Paul knew and believed the gospel, he did not lose heart.

Paul knew that the destiny of every Christian is the destiny of Jesus Christ. When Christ died, we died with him. When Christ was buried, we were buried with him. When Christ was raised, we were raised with him. When Christ ascended, we ascended with him, and we are seated with him in heavenly places. Paul recognized this as he wrote, “Our citizenship is in heaven” (Phil. 3:20) and “your life is now hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3).

Paul also knew that Jesus Christ gives us eternal life and no one is able to snatch us out of his hand or the hand of the Father. He understood that nothing in all creation–neither death nor life nor anything else–can separate us from the love of God, as he wrote in Romans 8:38-39. This is the first reason Paul did not lose heart in the face of many sufferings.

Renewal of the Inner Man

What is another reason we should not lose heart? In 2 Corinthians 4:16 Paul continues, “Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.”

In Romans 8:10 we read, ” But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, and yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.” You see, we are already made alive by the righteousness of God–the free gift of the righteousness of Christ–which we received by faith. And in Romans 8:16 Paul writes that the Holy Spirit testifies to our spirit that we are God’s children. God made us alive in our spirit and the Spirit of the living God, who raised Christ from the dead, is dwelling in us. Thus, our inner man, our man in Christ, is being renewed by the Holy Spirit daily.

What is our inner man? It is the hidden man, our spirit, which has been made alive in Christ. The world cannot see it, but you can see it in yourself and we who are fellow believers recognize it in each other. This inner man is made alive and being renewed daily by the mighty operation of the Spirit of God. Paul refers to this in Ephesians 3:16 when he says, “I pray that out of his glorious riches [the heavenly Father] may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being.”

What happens when a person dies? His outward man will perish. That is true of unbelievers as well as believers. But the inward man of an unbeliever is already dead spiritually, while the inward man of a Christian has been made alive. So when an unbeliever dies, his outward man dies, his inward man is dead, and he enters into an intense experiencing of death. What about a Christian? When his outward man dies, he enters into the presence of God because his inner man, which has been renewed daily, is perfected the moment he dies. Not only that, when Jesus Christ comes again, he will receive a spiritual body and enter into the fullness of life with that body.

Think about your own destiny. If you are an unbeliever, you are perishing now and your destiny is only death–nothing but death. But if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, your destiny will be life–everlasting, never-ending life.

The Destiny of Eternal Life

When Paul wrote, “our inner man is renewed day by day,” he may have been reflecting on Isaiah 40:28-31, where we read,

Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

If we trust in the Lord, rely on the Lord, and rest in the Lord, we will have our strength renewed daily by the Lord. If we have been made alive by the mighty Holy Spirit in our inner person, the Spirit of God rests upon our spirits, strengthening us daily and progressively taking us from one degree of life to another degree of life, until the day when we will be led into experiencing the fullness of life, for we shall see him as he is.

The Decay of the Outer Man

The Bible speaks of our outer man daily decaying. It is progressive, irreversible process. What is our outer man? It is our body–the earthly tent Paul speaks of in 2 Corinthians 5:1, the earthen vessel he speaks of in 2 Corinthians 4:7.

Our outer man is our mortal body, which will die, and even now is beginning to crack. If you don’t believe me, take a look in the mirror–you can already see cracks in it. If you still don’t believe me, collect all your old pictures and compare yourself now to how you looked in the pictures. That exercise should enable you to see the cracks in your earthen vessel.

But the good news is that the gospel affects not only our inner man but also our outer man. God has a plan for our bodies, as we said before. He who raised Jesus from the dead will also raise us up through his Holy Spirit who even now dwells in us. This is the gospel Paul believed in and preached, and this is why Paul did not get discouraged when he faced so much suffering.

Let me ask you again: Why do we complain, lose heart, and get discouraged? Because our understanding of the gospel is superficial and theoretical, not experimental. May God help us to understand the gospel!

Suffering as a Christian

Not only does our outer man decay through the passage of time, but it will also suffer certain afflictions because we are Christians. In 1 Peter 4:12 Peter describes these sufferings as painful trials, or fiery trials, as we read in the Greek. These sufferings come to us because of the name of Christ, as Peter writes in verse 14 of the same chapter. We received Christ’s name and confessed it, and now the world hates us and persecutes us because we believe in Jesus Christ. First Peter 4:16 also tells us that we will suffer because we are Christians and in 1 Peter 4:19 we read that these sufferings are according to God’s will.

These afflictions, these pressures, these fiery trials that the outward man of a Christian particularly experiences, are both physical and mental. They come from parents who hate Jesus Christ, from children who hate Jesus Christ, from bosses who hate Jesus Christ, from schoolmates who hate Jesus Christ, from fellow workers who hate Jesus Christ, from religious establishments that hate Jesus Christ, and from your government that hates Jesus Christ. They also come from Satan who, like a roaring lion, roams about trying to find somebody to devour. They come from the messengers of Satan. They come from professors and teachers. They come through physical illnesses. And finally, let me tell you, they come from the fiery trial of martyrdom.

Jesus himself spoke of the trial of martyrdom in John 21:19 when he told Peter, in essence, “You are going to be killed for my sake, and through your martyrdom you will glorify me.” Peter made reference to this prediction in 2 Peter 1:13-14 when he spoke of the impending putting off of the tent of his body, and, indeed, Peter was martyred for his faith in Christ.

Light and Momentary Troubles

Thus, God calls his people to undergo suffering, and this suffering is real. We are not like Christian Scientists who deny the reality of pain. This is real pain, real sorrow, real suffering. How, then, can we endure great suffering and not lose heart?

Look again at Paul’s example. Paul saw his sufferings from an eternal perspective, as he wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:17, “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.”

When Paul looked upon his sufferings, he called them light and momentary. How do we describe our sufferings? Don’t we complain and murmur, saying, “This trial is so overwhelming. It is so terrible. Pastor, you have no understanding of the magnitude of the affliction I am going through.” Let me tell you, you need to look to the heavens and get the heavenly perspective that Paul had. (PGM) When Paul looked at all his troubles and suffering, what did he say? They were but light and momentary troubles. In other words, to Paul his sufferings were insignificant. They were nothing compared to what God was accomplishing through them, which was an eternal weight of glory, the fullness of eternal life.

Perhaps even now we are becoming somewhat ashamed of ourselves for calling attention to our suffering. Oh, that we might use the wings of faith and soar into the heavenlies! Only from there will we get a heavenly perspective that will show us how very light our troubles are.

Additionally, Paul says our trials are momentary, meaning they are of this age. What is this age compared with eternity? Nothing. In our own lives, our sufferings as Christians will last from our conversion until our death–that’s all. Even this present world with all its troubles and problems is passing away, Paul says, and there is a new heaven and a new earth coming.

So Paul says our troubles are light and momentary, meaning they are transitory, temporary. Peter echoes this in 1 Peter 1:6 when he writes, “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.” For a little while! He repeats this idea in 1 Peter 5:10 when he writes, “And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.” What is a little while? As I just said, it is our lifetime as Christians. That can mean thirty, forty or fifty years, or, if you received Christ at a very early age as I did, maybe sixty-five or seventy years. But what is that time compared to eternity? Nothing. It is an infinitesimally small period of time–“a little while.” That should encourage us in our sufferings.

God Ordains Suffering

Now, we are saying that suffering is beneficial, but I am not suggesting that we seek out suffering. I have a great aversion to suffering. In fact, I will run as far away from it as I can unless God tells me, “This is something I have ordained for you.” So we are not teaching that suffering is wonderful per se. But we are saying that God-ordained suffering–suffering for righteousness’ sake, suffering for Jesus’ sake, suffering because we are Christians–has great value, both now and for eternity.

In 2 Corinthians 4:16 we read, “Therefore we do not lose heart, though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.” That is a proper translation of that phrase, “though outwardly we are wasting away.” In the Greek we find ei with the indicative used, which means it is a first-class condition. In other words, Paul was saying, there is no question that our outward man is really wasting away.

Of course, we know from many passages in the New Testament that this was true of Paul. He took a lot of abuse and became an old man long before his time. Read Philemon 9, where he refers to himself as the aged Paul. Paul suffered much as a Christian. He was beaten up several times, went without food and sleep many times, was shipwrecked, and so on. He was always traveling, always working, and always ministering and preaching the gospel.

So when Paul looked at his own body, I am sure he would say, “There is no question about it. My tent is falling apart daily. Eventually, it will be destroyed.” But then he would add, “But I rejoice, because I know my inward man is being renewed daily, progressively, and irreversibly.”

We must understand, as Paul did, that God has a plan for our bodies. Though they are destroyed, God will raise them up. In the meantime, we are renewed spiritually, daily.

The Benefits of Suffering

In God’s ordination we who are Christians will suffer. Why? Because suffering produces, brings about, accomplishes, performs, creates something. In 2 Corinthians 4:17 we read, “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving (katergadzomai) for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.”

What is God’s plan? To bring us into glory. Romans 3 tells us that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. But God has a plan to bring some people to glory, to make them conformed to the image of his Son, that they may be with God and see him face to face. Oh, what intense joy that will be! That is what eternal life is all about.

Thus, the purpose of God-ordained sufferings is to produce (katergadzomai), effect, and accomplish glory in our lives. Just as medicines bring about healing, sufferings promote eternal glory.

Now, notice something in this verse: The eternal glory produced by sufferings is out of all proportion to those sufferings. Our sufferings are described as being light and momentary, but the glory is described as being exceedingly above all of them. In other words, compared to the glory, our suffering is nothing. When we complain or murmur about our troubles, what are we making such fuss about ? Nothing!

Paul says this again in Romans 8:18, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” In other words, our present suffering is not equal to the glory that we will have in heaven. Oh, we want to compare notes with others and arrive at the conclusion the particular trial and suffering we are undergoing is heavier than anything else. But, no, it is nothing compared to the glory to be revealed in us.

James, the Lord’s brother, understood this and so he wrote in James 1:3, “the testing of your faith produces (katergadzomai) perseverance.” This is the same word we find in the previous passages. In other words, all sorts of trials in the life of a Christian produces, brings about, effectuates, and accomplishes patience, which means holiness, character, and Christlikeness. What is God’s way of bringing about holiness in us? Through trials–all sorts of trials.

The same word, katergadzomai, is used in Romans 5:3, where Paul writes, “Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance. . . .” Notice the theological understanding expressed by Paul. If we do not study or meditate upon the Bible, we will never enter into the comfort and encouragement that comes to us from God. But Paul writes, “because we know that suffering produces perseverance,” and so on. In other words, tribulations bring about, accomplish, worketh patience, character, hope, Christlikeness, and godliness. This is God’s purpose for us in sufferings.

God’s Ultimate Purpose

Have you ever wondered what God’s purpose was for choosing us from all eternity? Was it to make us rich and famous in this temporal world? No. Ephesians 1:4 tells us God chose us that we may be holy and blameless in his sight. In other words, while we are alive here, God is constructing us for eternity. The major precondition to exist in the kingdom of God is to be holy and blameless. God must get rid of the sin in us so that he can bring us into his presence for eternity.

Now, we don’t have to worry about being made holy if we are going to hell. The qualification for hell is unholiness, and all people are naturally qualified for that. By nature our inner man is at enmity to God, dead in trespasses and sins, and we simply have to wait for the outer man to die so that we will be totally overcome by death. It may take a little while, under God’s common grace, but soon enough it will happen and those who are not holy will enter hell for eternity.

If you want to go to heaven, you must realize that heaven is a holy place. There is no sin in heaven, so God must make his people holy and blameless. How does he do it? Partly through troubles and trials. So there may be times in our lives when God says, “I want to give this person a little more trouble–actually, all kinds of trouble–because I love him. I must work at making him holy and blameless so that he can live with me forever.”

That is why we can take comfort in Romans 8:28, “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. “All things” means things that are nice as well as things that are not.

The Components of Salvation

You see, we cannot put our own salvation together. God does that, and he puts in certain components according to his plan and purpose. It is like making a cake. We may not naturally think to put baking soda in, but we do so because it performs an essential function in the cake’s development.

In the same way, God puts all kinds of ingredients into what is called the Christian life, including a generous dose of suffering. I do not naturally like suffering, but if I study God’s word and understand theology, I must say with Paul, “I rejoice in tribulations also, because I know afflictions produce perseverance, holiness, character, and hope, and that God will work even this suffering for good.”

Are You Rejoicing in Sufferings?

n conclusion, I urge you to understand the gospel and God’s purpose in suffering. Then you can join with Paul and say, “I rejoice in tribulations also because I know this light and momentary trial will produce such a wonderful, out-of-proportion effect in my life. This heavenly perspective is driving me, energizing me, and making me rejoice in the midst of any suffering!”

Was Paul focused on his cracking body? Oh, no. He said to fix our eyes, not on what is seen, which is the cracking body, but on things invisible, because the things we see are transient, ephemeral, temporal, but the things invisible are eternal.

May God help us to have this heavenly perspective, the salvation viewpoint, as we live in this world. And as God ordains suffering in our lives, may we embrace it, knowing it will be for our good, both now and forever. Amen.