When We Suffer
Romans 8:17-18
OUTLINE:
Disciples of Jesus Christ, IF and WHEN you suffer, remember that...
1. Suffering with Christ is part of our inheritance.
2. Suffering with Christ demands sacrifice.
3. Suffering with Christ is practicing self-denial.
4. Suffering with Christ is identifying with the pain of others.
5. Suffering with Christ leads to our Glorification.
MSSAGE
Did you realize that everyone on this earth receives an inheritance? In order to receive an inheritance, your name has to be in a will and in order for a beneficiary to receive anything, someone has to die. Christ HAS DIED in order for you to inherit part of HIS Father’s estate.
Everyone has one of two SPIRITUAL FATHERS: Your Father is either the God of the Universe, the LORD God ALMIGHTY as revealed through His Holy Spirit, the Bible, Creation, and in Jesus Christ, OR your spiritual father is the devil. God’s Word says that NOT all people are Children of God, but SOME ARE. Here are some of the ways you might know if you are His Child.
In Romans 8:10, we read: “IF Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit (God’s Spirit) is alive because of righteousness (HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS). 11 BUT IF the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead WILL ALSO give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. 12 SO then, brethren, we are UNDER OBLIGATION (we have a debt), not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh - 13 FOR IF you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but IF by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 FOR all who are being LED BY the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” (Our debt is to live for God.)
If you are an HEIR of God’s Heavenly Kingdom, some of the promises and benefits that you receive in Christ are mentioned in the context Romans 8:15:
Romans 8:15- “For you (you Sons of God, Children of God) have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption (SONSHIP) as sons by which we cry out, "Abba ! Father!" 16 The Spirit Himself testifies (He is a witness) with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, IF INDEED WE SUFFER with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.”
We could spend months talking about the benefits which we receive NOW IN CHRIST and we could spend a lot MORE time “IN WONDER”, considering what WE HAVE NOT YET received; the second half of verse 17 talks about SOME of our inheritance right now IF we are in Christ: “IF INDEED WE SUFFER with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.”
SUFFER? What KIND of inheritance is that? “Sins forgiven” and “eternal life” sound great but I didn’t sign up for SUFFERING! I signed up for benefits.
Reading the context in these verses you find that it is not IF you SUFFER, but WHEN you SUFFER because SUFFERING with Christ is part of our inheritance. You may not WANT to suffer, but it comes with being part of the family of God on THIS SIDE OF HEAVEN.
The root word for “suffer with” (“sympaschô)” in our text is “paschô”: “to suffer”. Suffering was certainly a part of Christ’s life: It was why HE CAME. It is interesting that the Old Testament word for the Passover Lamb has a similar sound: that word is “pecach” (pe sach). The Jewish people still refer to the lamb at Passover as the Paschal (pas-kuhl ) Lamb.
The Paschal PASSOVER Lamb was the sacrifice that God mandated to be brought on the eve of Passover, and eaten on the first night of the holiday with bitter herbs and matzo. The blood of this sacrifice was sprinkled on the door-posts of the Israelites as a sign to God, when passing through the land to slay the first-born of the Egyptians that night, that he should PASS OVER the houses of the Israelites (Exodus 12:1-28) The fulfillment of the Passover Lamb is Jesus, the Lamb of God. John the Baptist’s wonderful proclamation at Jesus’ Baptism to the crowds was: “Behold the Lamb of God which takes away the sins of the World.”
The life and suffering OF CHRIST demanded that HIS perfect sacrifice be made for sin, and for us, IF and WHEN you suffer, remember that SUFFERING WITH CHRIST DEMANDS SACRIFICE. The Church in so-called “civilized nations” know very little about SACRIFICE and sacrificial giving. We know all about sacrifice that is CONVENIENT for us and our schedules, but most of the time we know little about sacrifice, but suffering WITH CHRIST is ALL ABOUT sacrifice. Sacrifice means getting out of your personal comfort zone; For Jesus, there was nothing comfortable with the cross!
Jesus said in Luke 9:22: "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised up on the third day." And He was saying to them all, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. (DENY is a negative of the word “to pour or flow”. Instead of filling myself up with ME, I should be emptying myself so I can be filled with CHRIST. What did Jesus do? He emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant: He attached Himself to the cross in order to follow His Father’s will to die to self and die FOR sin.
We MUST die to ourselves DAILY as we follow Jesus’ example! It is not an option or a suggestion: It’s a command. Suffering with Christ is practicing SELF-DENIAL. Take up your OWN CROSS and DIE TO SELF for the Glory of God IN CHRIST. The Sin that is within us screams: NO! Take care of yourself first! But the Spirit and the Word disagree and say: DENY yourself. Matthew 10:38 says: "He who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. "He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.”
Disciples of Christ don’t HANG on to their money, time and talents and try to SQUEEZE a little bit out for Lord and others. They realize that ALL is FROM God and is to be used for HIM. Disciples of Christ discern daily about how they can best serve God, others and the Body of Christ. In our country we have more free time than ever before, so we try to find how we can BEST USE that time to Glorify Him. We do not want to RISK LOSING our LIVES by trying to hold on to them. We know that Self-centeredness is not Christ-centeredness.
Peter wrote in 1Peter 4:1-2: “Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, ARM yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2 so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.”
In any HUMAN FAMILY, there what is called a “FAMILY DYNAMIC”. Forces are “at work within a family that produce particular behaviors or symptoms.” (Mosby’s Medical Dictionary) The “SONS OF God” ON EARTH have a SPIRITUAL DYNAMIC that is only experienced on this side of heaven: WE SUFFER TOGETHER. We have good days and not so good days together, and we are affected negatively and positively by each other because we are as close as a family can be. We suffer together since SUFFERING IS PART OF BEING IN CHRIST together.
If I have a burden for something which burdens Jesus, you cannot help but hurt with me because I am suffering with Jesus. (Remember the Greek word is “sympaschô. We get the word “sympathize”.) If I have the same HURTS that cause Jesus to suffer and you are part of the Body of Christ, then you should be sharing that hurt WITH CHRIST and with ME. We have spiritual SYMPATHY for each other because JESUS sympathizes with us and we care about those things that Jesus cares about!
1 Corinthians 12:26-27 says: “And if one member suffers, all the members SUFFER WITH it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. 27 Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it.” We have “ups”, but the downs are not totally erased now.
We SUFFER WITH the Body of Christ. Did you suffer this week, along other Christians hearing of the American citizen and Christian Pastor, Saeed Abedini, who has been held and tortured in Iran’s Evin Prison since September of last year. Listen to the letter sent by Saeed to his wife several months ago on you tube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Itham0K1eaE
Paul said in Ephesians 6:19- “Pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains ; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.”
IF and WHEN you suffer, remember that...Suffering with Christ is identifying with the pain of others who are being tortured FOR CHRIST, since you are connected to them by the same Holy Spirit of God, but it is ALSO suffering for those who are lost, not just persecuted. Remember when Jesus looked over Jerusalem and wept? Remember how Jesus cried with others at the grave of Lazarus? Remember all the times that He looked with COMPASSION on the hurting? If we DON’T hurt for the hurting, it’s NOT JUST THE HURTING who are HURTING.
We have many short phrases that pertain to some of the experiences in life: NO PAIN, NO GAIN. No guts no glory. The Bible teaches some GREATER principles: No cross, no crown. NO SUFFERING, no inheritance. It is not only talking about persecution. The verses of Romans 8:18-25 expound on what suffering for Christ includes.
Any suffering that a disciple of Jesus might meet on the road to heaven and ENDURE by trusting in Jesus, is suffering that helps them to persevere in faith AND IN HIM. We suffer with Christ and WE KNOW that Suffering with Christ leads to Glorification.
The full Glory of our inheritance IN CHRIST will not be realized until WE ARE GLORIFIED, until our flesh finally dies entirely. That will not happen until our bodies die, and Christ comes again and raises our incorrupt bodies.
In the meantime, our lives are IN CHRIST. Our suffering is IN CHRIST. Our sanctification process is IN CHRIST, and eventually, OUR GLORY is IN CHRIST. In the meantime our HOPE is IN Christ because He IS our hope FOR GLORY and glorification. Suffering with Christ leads to our Glorification.
Why does suffering precede glory? It’s found in Romans 5:2-3. “We have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we ALSO REJOICE in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance.” There’s the clue: Our suffering works for the endurance and perseverance of our Faith. God is knocking the props of our self-reliance and trust in things and people out from under us, and making us rely more on HIM so that suffering with Christ actually produces JOY.
Romans 8:18 says: “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” Think about “hard times” in view of eternity, but MOSTLY in view of what Christ has done, is doing, and will do…IN YOU and in His Kingdom which HAS arrived, but also the parts of His Kingdom that are STILL to come! To God be the Glory.
