Pastor Herk continues that sometimes, God uses our suffering for the benefit of others. Paul wrote in Colossians 1:24-26 “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am supplementing what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions in behalf of His body, which is the church. I was made a minister of this church according to the commission from God granted to me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, that is, the mystery which had been hidden from the past ages and generations, but now has been revealed to His saints.” When God calls us to be part of His family, He doesn’t do it just for our benefit, but also for the benefit of the rest of the family. People and churches need people to support them and help them succeed, and each of us individually needs to sacrifice and support others without seeking recognition. The Apostle Paul suffered 2000 years ago so that Christians today would have the freedom to exercise their faith in God, Christ and the Holy Spirit and bear witness to the Gospel.
Psalm 119:67-71 “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word. You are good and You do good; Teach me Your statutes. The arrogant have forged a lie against me; With all my heart I will comply with Your precepts. Their heart is insensitive, like fat, but I delight in Your Law. It is good for me that I was afflicted, so that I may learn Your statutes.”
How many times have those who have suffered losses, addictions, infirmities, malice of thought, indecency, or idolatry and overcame by the grace of God and found repentant forgiveness, redemption in Christ, and reconciliation of relationship with God to become ministers to somebody down the road who is going through the same issues, because they have suffered those same pains and gone through those hard times, so they can help somebody going through that also.
Romans 8:16-18 “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, 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. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”
Suffering in this life is a key to sharing in God’s glory. The day that we repent of our sin, accept Christ as Savior and Lord, are born-again of the Holy Spirit, we are justified in holy justification. In our transformational conversion, we are sealed by the indwelling Holy Spirit, consecrated to God (set apart for a sacred purpose) and sanctified (made holy for sacred services) in Jesus to begin the process of holy sanctification (the act of God's grace by which the affections of man are purified or alienated from sin and the God-rejecting world, and exalted to a supreme love to God as they grow into the likeness of Christ with ever-increase glory). And someday, we are going to experience the complete fulfillment of all the spiritual riches that God has promised to us as heirs with Christ to His kingdom in Heaven. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says, “But we all, with unveiled faces, looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.” Through Christ (the Way, the Truth and the Life), we have unrestricted access to our Heavenly Father as a direct result of justification (the remission of sin and absolution from guilt and punishment; or an act of free grace by which God pardons the sinner and accepts him as righteous, on account of the atonement of Christ).
Philippians 1:29 “For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to sufferon His behalf.”
This life following Christ in obedience of Almighty God leads to the day when the Christian enters eternity in the kingdom of Heaven with Christ, experiencing the glory of God in full (an exaltation to honor and dignity), which is glorification. Rainbows come as a result from the rainy days. You won’t see that glorious rainbow without going through the rain. Nobody desires to suffer, but the key to accepting suffering is to view it as a part of God’s eternal plan in this fallen world; as God’s work in our lives and for the lives of others, so that we can share in His glory.
In Christ, Brian
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