"How Do I Respond to All the Suffering?" :: Rejoice

So far in this series we have looked at two possible responses to persecution of our fellow believers (Suffer, Pray). In the first post we looked at 1 Corinthians 12:12-13, 26-27 and discussed several practical ways we can suffer with those that are suffering for their faith. In the next post we looked at Hebrews 13:3 and saw that we are to pray for those that are in prison. This post is probably the most radical of the three responses and definitely does not come naturally to us. Our third response to the persecution around the world is to rejoice.

Before I get started unpacking what I mean by this I want to preface this post by saying that much of what will be said comes almost directly from John Piper's book entitled Let the Nations Be Glad. I don't want to take credit for thoughts and ideas that are not mine.

Rejoicing in times of suffering is the pattern that is played out time after time in scripture. In Acts, the apostles were persecuted and beaten and we are told that they left "rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name" (Acts 5:41). We are also told to count it as JOY when we "meet trials of various kinds" (James 1:2). Again in Acts, when Paul and Silas are beaten and thrown in prison we find them praying and singing praises to God all night (Acts 16:22-26).

But why? We know that we are to rejoice in suffering because we see that example in scripture and we are also directly told to rejoice in suffering in other passages. But why are we told to do this? How is it that we are able to rejoice when we are being persecuted and when our brothers and sisters around the world are being persecuted?

There are many reasons given in scripture as to why we are told to rejoice when facing persecution and suffering. For the sake of time (your time as well as mine) I am only going to give you one of those reasons. It just happens to be the reason that I find most motivating as well as most shocking.

The best way to find a reason for the mandates we find in scripture is to search the scripture for the explanation. For this particular command to rejoice in suffering we will be looking to Colossians 1:24.

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church. (Colossians 1:24)

Paul says, "I rejoice in my sufferings" and then he goes on to tell us why. What is his reason for rejoicing in his suffering? He says it is because in his flesh, or in his body, he is "filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions" or Christ's suffering.

What in the world could that possibly mean? Is there really something lacking or something missing from Jesus' suffering on the cross? No, there is nothing lacking from their atoning sufficiency or their saving worth and work. We can't and don't need to add anything to his suffering in order to receive salvation. The sufferings of Christ are lacking in that they are not known and felt by people who were not at the cross. Paul is saying that he not only dedicated his life to bringing the story of Jesus suffering to the nations, but that he was willing to give up his life to make Christ's sufferings known. When this happens people see and feel the sufferings of Jesus in a way that they would never have seen had someone not been willing to rejoice in suffering for their testimony and faith in Jesus.

We can rejoice in suffering because the gospel is furthered when believers are persecuted. People persecute Christians because they want to PREVENT them from preaching the gospel. What they don't know is that God uses that very suffering to ADVANCE his kingdom and to impact lives with the gospel. It's what we see all around the world today, it's what we see when we look at history, and it's what we see when we look through the pages of scripture. Suffering is allowed and even appointed by God for the purpose of bringing glory to his name and changing lives with the gospel.

Testifying to the gospel of the grace of God,
Robbie
Acts 20:24

SERIES NAVIGATION
Introduction
Part 1 | Suffer
Part 2 | Pray
Part 3 | Rejoice