Called
to Suffer
NICHOLAS CHUAN
*adapted from John Piper, Desiring God, Chapter 10: Suffering
(as a result of Jesus’s death and resurrection), we persevere
in holding on to the faith that we have indeed received.
Hence, suffering builds our perseverance, sharpens our
character as Christians, and thus, fuels the hope we have in
the promised reward of being reunited with Him in heaven.
But what if that hope is merely an illusion? That is, what
if our hope is based on an unfounded belief? Well then,
we are fools for having suffered in those tribulations.
Maybe you think that this suffering is not part of the Christian
experience. Instead, everyone goes through it. Christian
or not, we suffer and becoming a Christian makes no
difference to that. Let’s see what the Bible says about that
(assuming that Christ did indeed rise from the dead).
Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you,
and you will be hated by all nations because of My name.
MATTHEW 24:9
If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.
JOHN 15:20
Go; behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.
LUKE 10:3
Jesus warned his followers that they would be like innocent
sheep among vicious wolves, hated and persecuted like He
was. Jesus was scourged by soldiers, mocked with a crown
of thorns, dragging a cross to Calvary, having iron spikes
driven through his hands and feet and being crucified.
Christians are either crazy to sign up for suffering like Christ
did, or have a very good reason for doing so. Pascal’s Wager
is not as straightforward anymore. The reward of being a
Christian must outweigh its immense cost. Perhaps the
decision was hardest for Paul, arguably the Christian who
had suffered the most in the Bible. He was shipwrecked
thrice, imprisoned without trial, whipped by lashes and
stoned (which he survived). In fact, Jesus said that He would
“show him how much he must suffer for [His] name’s sake.”
Why, then, would Paul subject himself to such suffering?
surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for
whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count
them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may
be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my
own derived from the Law, but that which is through
faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from
God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and
the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of
His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order
that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
PHILIPPIANS 3:8-11
Paul counted all his suffering as rubbish that he may
gain Christ and attain the resurrection. He held on
unwaveringly to the hope of eternal life promised
to him, having the faith that all his sufferings
counted for naught with heaven in sight.
Through many tribulations we must
enter the kingdom of God.
ACTS 14:22
What does this mean for the 21 Egyptian Christians
who died at the hands of ISIS? What does this
mean for the persecuted Pakistani Christians?
What does this mean for you, suffering servant?
But if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to
be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this name.
1 PETER 4:16
Christians are called to suffer for Christ, like
Christ, to glorify God. Your suffering is not always
a sign of unfaithfulness to God or a consequence
of your sin. Exult in your trials as Paul did,
knowing that it brings about hope, the hope that
is secure in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
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.
ROMANS 8:18
Paul wrote,
More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the
Nicholas Chuan is a freshman singly
concentrating in physics and philosophy.
Spring 2015
13