Borrowed Truths

The Fellowship of His Suffering (Part 1)

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The Fellowship of His Suffering (Part 1)

“That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings…” (Phil. 3:10)

I do not believe it is possible to suffer for Christ unless you know how to praise His name; and I do not believe you can praise His name properly unless you know how to suffer according to the will of God.

In this series we will speak on a subject that many believers in Christ do not want to talk about, many others take to an extreme that the Holy Spirit does not imply, and that some have completely refuted. According to the commercials I see on the television, we are supposed to take a pill each time we experience even the most minor of ailments. I do not desire here to imply that there are, of course, many who seriously require the services that are offered by the medical community in it’s many various forms, to an extent these can be great blessings from God, from cures for polio to the wonderful progress made in the area of cancer, God’s hand can clearly be seen.

One must wonder to what extent these are always ‘necessary’ though. Hence an examination of the fellowship of our Lords suffering. We live in a nation, at least here in the United States, that tends to think differently about what the word suffer means than from what it meant even just a few short years ago. According to Webster’s Dictionary, to suffer means to “to submit to or be forced to”, “to put up with especially as inevitable or unavoidable”. The synonyms usually related to the word suffering are hardship, distress, misery, pain and many more, almost all in what would be considered negative by most.

I would like to suggest here that to be in the fellowship of our Lord’s suffering would be just the opposite, even though the circumstances may include distress, misery and pain, along with a host of many other  emotions and attributes that the world would see as more than just nuisances, but could be viewed as that of an ‘angry God’ taking his vengeance upon an unruly and obstinate child. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The word fellowship alone will be a key that the spiritually growing and mature child of God will first pick up on first. The Greek word, by extension means ‘participation, sharing, the outcome of close relationships’. Who would not want to have this type of outpouring of closeness with our Lord Jesus, not matter what the word is that follows ‘fellowship. “The spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God; and if children then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together”. (Rom. 8:17)

Jesus suffered many things of the elders and chief priest, even unto death. The heads of the religious order of the day would not admit to who he was, they felt threatened by Him in that they would lose their position of authority over the people. To suffer for Christ is to lose gladly all semblance of authority over others, to willfully acknowledge others higher than ourselves, to be a servant of others, going completely against our own selfish will. This goes completely against what society teaches, which, if we have spent anytime whatsoever in the Word of God, is not surprising. The cap that reads ‘I’m number one’, the commercial that says, ‘My friends are so jealous of my new car’, the many times over nearly every day that we hear from various sources, ‘You deserve’.

In my garage, years ago, I wrote with a black magic marker on the wall these words; “I don’t deserve anything, and I deserve everything I get”. Needless to say, those were not the best days I have experienced, but by the Grace of God I have truly come to understand what was written, that it is only by the mercy of our Lord that I receive anything at all, and that whatever he has determined to be for His greatest glory is what will come my way.

We suffer with Him when we deny ourselves for His Glory. (Matt. 16:21 and 17:12)

In the following weeks we will continue to seek the will of the Lord our God in the matter of suffering, how it should affect our walk with Him, our actions towards others, and especially our attitude toward He who it is that is allowing us to be in fellowship with Him in this way. Until then, think on these words; For those who are truly the children of the Most High God, nothing happens to them unless it passes through the throne of His wonderful grace and glory first.     

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