Christ suffered in a physical body to redeem us

Now we rejoice in our suffering, because it is a subset of His.

We are gifted to God, perfectly blameless and free of guilt. And shame.

All our suffering falls under the shadow of the cross of Christ.

It is therefore filled with significance, albeit a different significance.

Christ is fully identified with us, and we with him, and suffering is the link.

Now ….

…… pause, reflect, and then continue in the light of the preceding.

Practical Applications

Focus on the Big Picture 

“A master instructs his apprentice to fetch a handful of salt and pour it into a glass of water. The apprentice does so and takes a sip, then deems the water  bitter and undrinkable. The master tells his apprentice to sprinkle another handful of salt into a lake, then take a drink from the lake. This time the water is clear and pleasant. “The amount of pain in life is salt; no more no less,” the master says. “The amount of pain in life remains exactly the same, no more and no less. But the amount of bitterness we taste depends on the container we put the pain in.” (Hindu parable quoted by Lost in the Valley of Death, p 189, by Hartley Hustad. Harper Collins, 2022) 

The bitterness of pain is diluted, even absorbed, by the lake. 

Christ is our lake.

Our four year old fell and scraped his knee. He ran in, screaming like a banshee on steroids. I envisioned sirens and the emergency room. There was a large box gift wrapped on the coffee table. He saw it and his face changed from anguish to delight, and he asked in an excited voice, “What’s that?”

Subjective pain was distracted by an objective reality

“NOW – I rejoice in what I am suffering” (Note the link – I left it out last time – “NOW” Col 1:24 (NIV)

   The Past Once you were alienated from God, his enemies.

The Present

But NOW he has reconciled you through the physical death (suffering) of Christ, made you his friend.

The Future To present you holy in his sight, without blemish, free from accusation.

Presented – “to convey to another as a possession,” (carries a note of formality and ceremony)

All our suffering falls under the shadow of the cross of Christ. It is therefore filled with significance, albeit a different significance.

This is of the utmost importance, since the first thought that naturally crosses out minds is “Where is God in all this?”

The devil adds his sinister attack by suggesting it is indicative that God does not love you after all. The devil turns the spotlight on you as a victim. He seeks to DIMINISH YOU! That in turn causes you to feel distant from God, isolated and ignored by God.

All of that is negated by this statement. 

This statement means that God identifies your suffering as deeply meaningful. He does not hide his face, and it is not indicative of his withdrawal.  In fact God turns His floodlight on you and gives you the status of a hero. He EXALTS  you

Correctly understood, it is God drawing you into fellowship of a most unique kind. 

One of the hardest things I have ever done was leading a team to build a clinic for the poor in Demaguette City in the Philippines. Day and night the temperature was over 90 degrees. The humidity was mostly in the 80’s. We were to mix concrete for the floor, only to discover they knew nothing about a garden hose, and the nearest water point was some 200 feet away. There were no wheel barrows. So we carried the sacks of cement, carried buckets of sand, and buckets of stone. Then we carried buckets of water, Then we mixed it all by hand, and then carried buckets of concrete to the place of laying. When any of us get together, or when we communicate, there is a bond between us that anyone who was not on that mission cannot understand, let alone appreciate. 

The hardship formed us into a unique “Band of Brothers”

It is that bond that Paul establishes with none other than Christ!

It underscores the opposite – far from God withdrawing from you, he is calling you to a special place in his heart, for God suffers.

Admiral McCain was given the order to start the bombing of Hanoi. There was just one small detail – he knew his own son John was being held captive in a prison in Hanoi. He had to give the order to start bombing his own son. The Admirals wife says he did not flinch. But every night he disappear every night for two hours. She found him on his knees with his Bible open.

How much more did God not grieve handing his son over? He was not a disinterested bystander. He is the Father.

God suffesr our sins yet. How patient he is with all my foibles and stubbornness.

It is also for the sake of the Body.

When therefore the persecution of the church commences in Acts, it is recorded that the Apostles and first Christians  “Rejoice to consider themselves worthy of suffering.”

.”Now I rejoice in what I am suffering” Paul in Colossians 1:24 (NIV)

It is obscene to link the words “suffering” and “rejoicing”.  Those two words are in direct antithesis. Oil and water not only should not be mixed, but in a certain estimation, cannot be mixed. No word causes greater questions than the issue of suffering. What a small word, but what a universe of meaning.

When Paul uses the phrase, it is not a Professor of Theology in comfortable slippers theorizing in front of a cheery fire, smoking a fragrant (or stinky?) pipe. 

He states: “ 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 pelted with stones, 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 fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked”  2 Corinthians 11 : 22 – 27

He really has something to say so – Stay tuned as we explore