A Crucified Life - - Answers The Call to Suffer

 

   1 Peter 2:21 

For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His footsteps.

    What does it mean to suffer for Christ? The literal description in Strong's is "to be acted upon in a certain way, either good or bad"; to be ill-treated. That's all well and good but how do I (we) suffer for Christ individually and within the church as a whole? 

    For starters, when someone attacks us--whether verbally or physically--we don't fight back. We are not to speak against them. We don't seek revenge against anyone. We take it to Jesus and He takes care of the problem. As long as we remain in Him and He in us, we have no reason to cause those who fight against us any ill-will of our own. As Christ stood silent when accused, so, too should the believer remain silent. (Isaiah 53:7; Matthew 26:63).

    It is a privilege to suffer for Christ. Philippians 3:7-9 speaks of losing everything for the gain of knowing Jesus Christ. And in verse 10: I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to Him in His death. And in Philippians 1:21 "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain."

    To suffer for Christ is to rise above the pettiness, the miry clay which clings to us trying to bring us down to the level we left behind when we chose to believe God and follow Christ. This is not a 'holier than thou' life: this is a humble remembering of who we were then and who we are now. 

    It is to have compassion, mercy, understanding and wisdom towards the people who are trying to undermine our witness. God says we are to pray for our enemies. I pray that the hearts of those who hate God be turned towards God and remain in Him to be His people. Our hearts are to be aligned with God's heart, which is to have as few left behind as possible. John 6:40 "For it is My Father’s will that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” 

    To suffer for Christ is to be longsuffering. It is to not lose patience with anyone who is not where you and I are in our relationship with Christ. Imagine if He had done that when we were young Christians! Where would we be? 

    Fruit trees take a few years to mature before they begin to bear fruit. Sometimes the first fruit bearing season just needs to stay on the tree, as the fruit can be bitter and inedible. So, too, is the Christian's heart. We are nurtured by The Word and sustained in our faith when we get The Word into us, not just memorization but knowing that God is writing His Word on our hearts. (Ezekiel 36:26,27)

    To suffer for Christ is to see by our faithfulness that our prayers are being answered. Our children are turning back to God and bringing their families with them. Our sisters, our brother, are searching God's Word, devouring it with a hunger born from spiritual starvation. 

    Even as Christ was lifted up on the cross for all the world to see, many people came and saw Him there. But not all of them believed. Just a few. But these few, in just seven weeks, would be filled with The Holy Spirit of God, Who would cause them to speak in other languages that the gospel of peace through Jesus Christ would go forth. And go forth it did.

    As these Christians were persecuted and killed, many fled to foreign nations where they preached the gospel and people believed God and received The Holy Spirit, that second precious Gift from God; the first, being His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. And they counted it a privilege. 

    Here we are now almost 2000 years later and still we are facing the same evil that faced Jesus: hated because we believe God and God's Word to be TRUTH. 

    Let us put all of our armor on (Ephesians 6:10-20) every single day, that we may be able to suffer efficiently and effectively. Let us gather together in prayer, seeking God's will before the day begins and the night ends. We rejoice that we have been found worthy to suffer! 

CALLED TO SUFFER 

He Lives! 

You Will Suffer - John Piper (sermon clip)

Cry of The Broken - Hillsong Worship

Surrounded - UPPERROOM

Weathered - Dante Bowe/Hannah McClure

Lay It All Down - United Pursuit/Will Reagan 

    

I Let Myself Be Broken

To the ones who broke my heart, I let myself be broken. While it made you feel powerful and superior, I allowed myself to be humbled and humiliated.

God said, “Present your body a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” [Romans 12:1] My heart is part of my body. Therefore, I let myself be broken.

God said, “Rejoice, inasmuch as you are partakers of Christ’s sufferings (partaker: share in, receive, have a portion of); that, you may be glad also with exceeding joy. If you are reproached for the Name of Christ, happy are you; for the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you: on their part He is evil spoken of, but on your part He is glorified. But do not allow yourself to suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evil-doer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf. For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? and if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? Wherefore, let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to Him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator. [1 Peter 4:13-19] Christ let Himself be broken for me, and you. When you revile me for trying to be what God is telling me I need to be, I let myself be broken.

God said, “And whether one member (of the body) suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it.’ Whether it is our physical body that suffers, or our spirit man that suffers, we suffer together. The persecuted church is us. All of us. While some attacks on the body of Christ are made known to the world, most will never be heard until judgment day. The body of Christ was broken in the courtyard and on the cross. He surrendered to God’s will for His life, as should we. We need to let ourselves be broken. Not for our glory, but for God’s. 

You who persecute God’s people beware: we are praying for you. We are praying for your salvation. We are praying for your sanctification. We are praying for your souls to be given to God through His Son Jesus Christ. We are praying. And there is nothing you can do to stop us. We have let ourselves be broken. I let myself be broken. And someday many of you will let yourselves be broken, too.