Suffering for the Sake of the Gospel

As we meditated through Ephesians 2:11-3:13 and thought about how God worked salvation out for the nations of the world, we neglected to stop and ponder one significant point: in order to take the good news of the mercy of God in Christ to all the nations of the world, we will have to suffer. I get this from Ephesians 3:13 which says, “So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory.”

The very existence of the Ephesian church was owing to Paul’s willingness to suffer with Christ that the Ephesians might know Christ. And so it is with every other church in the world today—it came to be at the price of suffering, some of which was slight and some of which was deadly. If we are to establish more and more churches around the world today, we will have to suffer as well.

It’s not that Christian are “suffering-happy,” that we’re out looking for persecution. In fact, Christians ought to avoid suffering and persecution whenever that’s within the will of God and the realm of possibilities. But it is that our passion for others to know the height and depth and width and breadth of God, to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, far outweighs our passion for personal comfort.

As we go into the world and preach the gospel we pray that God will keep us from suffering, but by his grace we are willing to endure anything that others might know him. Because Christ is our treasure and our passions are coming more and more to be rooted in his passions, we are willing to joyfully suffer derision, exclusion, inconvenience, the loss of our property, imprisonment, beatings, sleepless nights, hunger, thirst, and even death that others might come to know him.

How are you doing with this? Are you willing to suffer with Christ? I understand, I’m growing in my passion and willingness, too.

Learning to suffer for the greatest cause with you,
Pastor Charlie