When we hear the word “suffering”, we often associate the meaning with that of the word “victim”. We picture poor children in Africa made of skin and bones. We envision concentration camps, prisons, ghettos, and all the culturally correct attention-grabbers that wealthy society places before our eyes from time to time. The pictures are indeed heart-wrenching, and the suffering is beyond our comprehension. Most of us cannot truly know what it is like to be thrown into a prison in North Korea, or left alone to starve on the streets of Calcutta. Indeed, our lives are vulnerable to tragedy, yet we are largely insulated from the kind of suffering wrought upon those trapped in the spiritually dark places of the earth.

For this reason, when the New Testament proclaims to the followers of our Lord Jesus, “For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake…”(Phil. 1:29) the words tend to ring hollow in our ears. It is like our innate sense of survival wants to kick in and say “NO!”. We do not want to have our lives taken away, or our houses, food, or freedom. We work hard to provide a good life for ourselves, and we are blessed to have opportunity to do so. The reality around us is that, aside from these sort of words assaulting us from the pages of the Book, there is no immediate threat of these dangers coming upon us. And that is a good thing, right? To otherwise expect suffering, nay, even to welcome it, seems the height of contradiction. Are we then guilty of error for feeling this way?

I believe the problem lies not in our natural tendency to eliminate human suffering, but in a misunderstanding of the concept of suffering put forth by Christ, the Apostles, and the writers of the New Testament. If the “suffering” spoken of by Apostle Paul was one and the same as the suffering of, say, living in poverty, why then are we Christians commanded to feed the poor, and support widows and orphans? How do you do that if you don’t have food and money yourself? If living under social oppression and bondage is “suffering”, then why would the Psalmist declare prophetically that all the saints have the honor of “executing vengeance on the nations, and punishments on the peoples; to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; to execute on them the written judgment…” (Ps. 149). In other words, why strive to affect righteousness in a nation, when the suffering taking place is itself righteous?

This pattern of thinking doesn’t hold out. Biblical suffering, therefore, must be something different. It must be of a form that does not compromise the generous nature of God toward His people. Indeed, there are forms of suffering which we as Christians are commanded to fight aggressively against! Violent and oppressive rulers? Bind them! Hunger, poverty, and disease? Wipe them out! By all means, do not re-introduce these things into our lives after they have been defeated! Enjoy your victory, church. Enjoy the vine and fig tree! They are not evil, and they are not to be a source of guilt. They are the spoils of war waged in the spirit against the enemy. They are the result of taking back the authority that is rightfully ours. The Word says this: “The blessing of the Lord makes one rich” (Pr. 10:22). Wow, that turns the religious idea of suffering on it’s head.. But that’s not all, the rest of the proverb says (read it slow): …And… He… adds… no… sorrow… with… it. We have no reason to feel guilty for our blessings in life. So where does true suffering come in? And how do we embrace it without spurning these blessings of Father God in our lives?

Let’s study the words of Paul in Philippians 1:

“For I know that this [Paul’s imprisonment] will turn out for my deliverance through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you. And being confident of this, I know that I shall remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy of faith, that your rejoicing for me may be more abundant in Jesus Christ by my coming to you again. Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel, and not in any way terrified by your adversaries, which is to them a proof of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that from God. For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, having the same conflict which you saw in me and now hear is in me.

These are not the words of a man who has consigned himself to living without blessing and the abundance of the Lord. Neither are these the words of someone declaring the need for willful submission to hardship for the sake of personal righteousness. No, these are the words of a man on a mission. These are the words of a man who is willing to accept hardship only if it means a reward at the end. Look at what words are being used: “earnest expectation,” “hope,” “fruit from my labor,” “not terrified” “it has been granted”. And most importantly, the word “suffer” is followed by “for His sake.” We are not called to suffering for our own sake. We are not called to hardship because we need to punish our greedy, selfish souls, and learn some personal holiness. We are not to be victims of suffering, we are to engage it with expectation of reward! We’re not called for suffering for the sake of suffering, and, ahh, ‘the bible says we need to suffer.’ No we are given orders for a mission- advance the gospel. We are to give some real victims of suffering the chance to experience the blessings of the Lord for themselves. Doing so will mean hardships yourself, but there is a promise of great reward awaiting you at the end.

Suffering is willingly giving up some things you can rightfully enjoy for a higher purpose… and a higher reward. Suffering is the mark of the mature in the kingdom. It identifies the sons from the babies. Suffering activates the “Spirit of Adoption” in a believer.

In the Hebrew society, when a man became a father, and when a boy became a son were two different events. When a male child was born to a family, he was typically raised by servants, if they were rich, or the mother if they were not rich. But he was not called a son until his father “adopted” him in a public ceremony. Up until then, he was a kid, who’s purpose in life was to eat, play, grow strong, and learn basic schooling. He pretty much stayed out of Dad’s day-to-day life. However, following this event, the boy was considered a man, and he would join Dad in all his business, spiritual, and personal dealings with the rest of society. Son made friends with his father’s friends. Son did the family business with his dad’s associates. Son was given voice in his father’s synagogue. Son learned to use dad’s authority. Son was going to inherit all that dad had. (Point of reference- Galatians 4)

Romans 8 uses this same illustration in connection with true suffering:

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. (emphasis mine)

As children, we are all heirs of God. But if we choose to suffer, we become more; we are joint-heirs with Christ. Sons choose to step up and take on the Father’s business, and that business requires suffering to succeed. But the reward is clear: Joint-heir with Christ. Taking part in the very inheritance that Christ has; he being the first of many brethren to suffer in service of Father. Let’s look at Hebrews for some more understanding:

God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

Being a Joint-heir with Christ is truly a remarkable reward. It essentially means sharing in His authority. Sitting at the right hand of the throne of God signifies great honor, power, and authority. It means taking part in the administration of the kingdom. It means holding governing power. It’s available for anyone… but not everyone will have it.

To inherit this promise means making a choice- to deny yourself.

In choosing to deny your right to partake of the goodness of life, whatever that means to you, and take on difficulties, hardships, trials, wherever the Spirit leads you for His purpose, you are certainly no victim. You’re not passively accepting life’s lemons, trying to make lemonade, and waiting for the rapture so you won’t have to drink lemonade anymore. You are a prince of the kingdom, and you will join the ranks of those mentioned in Hebrews 11, and share in their honor:

“And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.”

Far too many believers in the West today do not understand the true meaning of biblical suffering. I believe the reason for this is directly linked to the widespread teaching of “Escapist theology.” “Everything is going to get worse before it gets even worser, and then it will get really bad. If you can hunker down and hold out the storm until the rapture, you’ll make it." This teaching only exposes the concept of suffering to the church as “suffering” the acts of God’s wrath upon a sinful world. It’s kind of like saying we are caught in the crossfire between heaven and hell. If you can stay alive until the bullets are done flying, hooray for you, you made it! If you manage to grab a few people around you from getting hit, that’s bonus points. In this mindset, "suffering" victimizes the body instead of merely challenging it, changing the Christian from a soldier into a bulls-eye. This has become the philosophy of life for many Christians, and living under it has robbed many believers of the richness and depth of fulfillment that comes from truly suffering for His sake. Instead of desiring and laboring for having His kingdom come, and His will done on earth as it is in heaven, brothers and sisters are only hoping to make the roll call for heaven’s citizenry. Instead of setting sights on the throne room of heaven, they aim for the front gate.

Furthermore, since everything is going to get worse, there is no motivation for seeing the world get better. The only legitimate reason to spread the gospel is so people won’t burn in hell. Thus, instead of having sons on the earth who demonstrate the glory of the kingdom to the world, and testifying in word and deed to mankind that truly “the kingdom of heaven is here,” Christians have to try and scare the sinners enough about hell to get them to say the magic words that will keep them out. Those who buy into it will then have suffering for the rest of their lives to look forward to, until one day, finally, the clouds come down. Understandably, the rate of attrition for these converts is very high. The world soon lures them back once their fear is subsided.

This shortsighted outlook on life cannot see the kingdom alive and working to affect the blessing of the Lord in the earth. They miss the evidence of the Spirit’s power working to bring mankind out of the darkness and into light. Compared to 20, 50, or 100 years ago there is far more wealth, freedom, and abundance today. They miss recognizing that what our forerunners of faith began, we can pick up and move higher. We are not looking ahead apprehensively at having to face a great tribulation. No, we are part of something greater, something glorious and bold! We have an inheritance that has been growing from generation to generation, passed down from our fathers in the faith to us. We have the opportunity to add even more to it, and to see even more of His dominion coming into this world. All that is required is a bit of suffering on our part.

But it will not compare to the glory…