"I Am Afflicted" Series

Some might say, well what about radical Muslims who go on suicide missions for their faith. That’s nothing like this. They are doing that because it’s a quick fix to get out of the suffering of this world. They are told that is one of the only ways they can be accepted by Allah into heaven right away. That is their only real guarantee of salvation. Unfortunately their suffering begins after they do this so called act of faith, which is really more an act of manipulation.

So affliction gives credibility to our faith. It also gives credibility to God himself. Paul says in verse 10 of our passage today that we bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

As the church reveals and declares this mystery, which will inevitably bring some kind of persecution, the spirit world even takes notice. The angels both good and bad, see the truth of God’s wisdom in creating the church and go wow! And the evil ones go ooooh.

One last thing about this identity as afflicted. How did Paul and the early Christians view this identity? Were they resentful, did they wish they didn’t have to do God’s will? Right away in Acts the church is taking the message to the people in Jerusalem and they were rejoicing that they were worthy to suffer dishonour for the Name of Jesus.

In Paul’s sister letter Colossians he says in the first chapter, now I rejoice in my suffering for your sake. In 2Cor chapter 1 he talks about being comforted in affliction, as we share in Christ’s affliction, we also share in his comfort.

Have you experienced that?

You may not always experience His comfort when you are going through normal human suffering, especially when it comes as a result of your own choices which it often does. But it is promised that when you suffer for others in the name of Christ, in other words when you are doing His will, you will receive the same comfort he received as he suffered. Talk about building an intimacy with God.

Obedience to God will bring affliction, even if that affliction is simply inconvenience. Sometimes isn’t it true that we do things that we think God wants, but we are really doing it for ourselves. Our pride, some kind of recognition from people or God. But it is very clear that this obedience, this suffering is done for the sake of others, especially those who do not know God.

We strive for the comfort of the world but Paul says in 2 Cor that as Christ’s suffering overflows to us, so through Christ our comfort also overflows. Which comfort do you think would be better, the comfort of God or the comfort of the world?

Personal comfort is without a doubt the biggest obstacle to living out our God given mission in life. We choose the comfortable things in our Christian life, but we will even sacrifice those things like Bible reading, prayer, and attending church, which hardly cause affliction, when it’s more comfortable not to.