Christ Suffered For You

CHRIST SUFFERED FOR YOU

Many things can be send about how Jesus spent his dash, his love, his compassion; today we’ll focus on how CHRIST SUFFERED FOR YOU.

Turn your bibles to:

(1 Pet 2:21 NIV) To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.

To what were they called. Well the context: Peter is giving direction for disciples that were slaves on how to conduct themselves. As a slave how am I to be righteous before God. Especially if I have a harsh master. Submit and be willing to suffer. He gave them a way to be commended before God. Before my suffering had no purpose, now it does. I can bring glory to God by imitating Jesus Christ.

(1 Pet 4:1 NIV) Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin.

We don’t like suffering. Giving the choice to be comfortable or suffer, most would choose to be comfortable. We want comfortable cars, comfortable homes, cush jobs, the easy life, we even want to die comfortably (in our sleep) is how many want to go. Many speak of comfort when choosing a church (well I just didn’t feel comfortable there). Jesus didn’t come to build a comfortable church. The church he would build would be built by a suffering Savior.

Jesus would suffer in every part of his life. He suffered physically (beaten and tortured), emotionally (Peters denial), mentally (constant attacks by the Pharisees), spiritually (taking on the sins of the world). He suffered in relationships (betrayals), he suffered with his parents (they didn’t understand Him), he suffered lonliness (no one could relate to Him; perfection). He suffered while communicating (few understood Him), His purpose caused him suffering (constantly giving and giving and giving with no one giving back; tired, exhausted from serving, feeling empty) yet filled up by God. As we can see:

Pt 1: SUFFERING WAS PART OF THE PLAN

From the beginning: Jesus suffered for you. For all of us.

Heb 5:8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered.

At the beginning of his ministry when he was led into the desert for forty days and during his ministry as he taught his disciples. The message: I’m going to suffer.

(Mark 8:31 NIV) He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.

(Luke 17:25 NIV) But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.

Suffering and rejection was part of the plan.

Why was he willing to go through all this? Why willing to suffer so much? Love. Parents are willing to go through much for their children because they love them. Willing to die if necessary.

In our ministry in D.C. His name was Angel. They were a young couple with a newborn baby boy. Before the boy was born though the Father had a dream that the boy would be terribly ill at birth and so he prayed God let the illness fall on me. The boy was born healthy and they named him Angelito. Shortly afterward the Father took ill with a rare form of cancer found only in children. The Father at first was hard, not interested in God. His wife was reached out to; she studied the bible, repented and was baptized and began to share Christ with her husband as he lay dying in the hospital. Weeks went by and slowly but surely he began to soften. One of the brothers began studying with him and by the time I was called in this man 150 pounds had shriveled up to 90. I remember counting the cost and as we talked about confession, repentance and baptism he came to the conviction that that was what he wanted to do. One problem the cancer had eaten away so much of his body that the doctors were afraid he might die in the baptistery so they suggested that we baptize half of his body (his upper half was where the cancer had attacked most). The nurses and doctors didn’t like my response and it created quite a stir. In accordance with the scriptures he needs to be immersed completely, I told them. I told Angel you must tell them what you want; they need to hear it from you. He told them I want to be immersed completely. They found a trough, wheeled him to the area and Angel was baptized into Jesus Christ. He died a week later. Looking down on his son from heaven theres a father that suffered so that his son could be saved. What a story his mom has for the boy as he grows up about the love of his dad.