Rev (Dr) Quek Suan Yew

Suffering for Christ
Philippians 1:29 “For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;”

Suffering is part and parcel of life on earth. Everyone suffers on earth regardless of age or what status he is in. There is absolutely no escape. Man suffers for wrong doing as well as for doing right. There are those who work hard and yet have to suffer. For example, they work hard in their company and their company could go bankrupt because of the recession in the world’s economy; or their 12 year old could meet with an accident and lose his life. These are sufferings that all of us can identify with and can never run away from.

But when a person becomes a believer in Christ, he now has God as his heavenly Father. He should be free from suffering as he serves his almighty God. Who is more powerful than Him? No one! Therefore, it stands to reason and not inconceivable to conclude that all who serve the Lord would be free from any form of suffering that will result in pain or hurt as this would impede their service to and witness of the all powerful God. However, this is obviously not the case! It is not because there is someone out there in the universe who is more powerful than God who can overcome Him and attack His children. It is also not true that God abandons His children after salvation as they serve Him on earth. The real reason is that God wants His children to suffer as they serve Him on the earth! This is good for all of them. That is why He describes it as “For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake.” Suffering for Christ is part of what it means to be a Christian on earth. Every faithful disciple of Christ will have to go through suffering in one form or another. The world is still in spiritual darkness. Just as the world persecuted and crucified Christ, it will do the same to all disciples of Christ who live holy lives, according to Scriptures.

The question we need to ask is: what constitutes suffering for Christ as we witness for Christ on earth? Every believer can go to heaven the moment he accepts Christ as Lord and Saviour. This was attested by what Christ said to the thief who was crucified next to Him on the cross. Jesus Christ said to him after he accepted Christ, “Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43) If all believers can enter heaven immediately after they accepted Christ, then why are all believers not in heaven when they become believers? The reason is that they have been left behind on earth after salvation to do the work of God as Christ’s witnesses. They will be the mouth of Christ speaking the words of Christ. They will be the hands of Christ doing the work of Christ. They will be the feet of Christ going where Christ wants them to go. They must bear a holy witness for Christ everywhere they go and in everything they do. The image and name of Christ must be biblically reflected by their lives so that their good works will point sinners to the Saviour and also build up the faith of fellow believers in Christ. While they do all these for Christ, they have to suffer in the process.

The word “suffer” means “to feel a sensation” which usually involves pain.

I. Suffering for Christ is not suffering for wrong doing – The sufferings that happen in the believer's life must be honestly ascertained. If the believer did wrong and is punished for his wrong, he is not suffering for Christ but for wrong doing. He needs to repent of his sin and make any restitution required of him to right the wrong and restore back the image of Christ that he has damaged by his sin. But if it is not for any wrong doing but for the sake of Christ, then he is suffering for Christ. He must be true to his own soul. Otherwise he deceives himself. He will not repent and his sin remains in him. If he is born again but he regards iniquity in his heart, his prayers will not be heard by God (cf. Psalm 66:18). If he is not born again, then a worse fate awaits him when he dies in his sin.

If he is suffering for Christ, then Christ will be his example par excellence of suffering. The apostle Peter explains in 1 Peter 2:19-25, “For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. 20 For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. 21 For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: 22 Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: 23 Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: 24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. 25 For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.” [Emphasis added] There is no greater example on earth than Christ and what He has done for the believer. He suffered and endured all the pain and humiliation before and on the cross until He died because of the sins of the believer. He suffered for the believer. Now the believer is asked by his Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to suffer for Him! This is what suffering for Christ signifies! In his service as Christ’s witness, he does the will of God just as Christ came to do the will of God by dying for him. Just as Christ suffered when He served, the believer must also suffer as he serves.

II. Suffering for Christ includes persecution – Suffering usually involves pain. This is the meaning of the word. Therefore, persecution is part of suffering. Persecution would include being thrown into the lion’s den like Daniel in Daniel 6, or thrown into the fiery furnace like Daniel’s three friends in Daniel 3, David having to flee from place to place like a wild animal because King Saul wanted his life, or being crucified on the cross like Christ. We have men like William Tyndale who was strangled and then burned at the stake, or Christians thrown into the arena to be eaten by lions in Roman times, or being sawn into two, or thrust through by spears or swords by gladiators for sport. These kinds of cruel and violent deaths are often the focus when believers think of what persecution for Christ. But how many of us would actually be persecuted in this manner? Probably never! If we were to limit our definition to these types of persecution only, then believers today would probably not be persecuted at all!

Being cast into prison for Christ is a form of persecution. Being fired from a job because of a holy witness for Christ is persecution. Being scolded by parents for becoming Christians is persecution. Being threatened with loss of inheritance or sonship is persecution. Being separated from family and loved ones for the sake of Christ is persecution. Being scolded and shouted at for becoming a Christian is persecution. Being laughed at when giving thanks before a meal is persecution. Being spat upon or having the door slammed in your face when you give a tract is persecution. Being beaten or mocked at when standing up for Christ is persecution.

Can God almighty protect and deliver His servants as they witness for Him? Of course He can. Did He not shut the mouths of the lions when Daniel was thrown in? (cf. Daniel 6) Did He not keep Daniel’s three friends when they were thrown into the fiery furnace? (cf. Daniel 3) Obviously God can and He did in those two circumstances. But He chose not to do so in so many instances of persecution. Thousands of believers throughout the ages died for Christ as they were persecuted. They went Home immediately to their Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ when they died. Persecution was the way God wanted to bring them home to glory and end their service for Christ on earth.

III. Suffering for Christ includes growing old – When a believer grows old, he feels the aches and pain of aging. His fives senses will fail and he might even become blind, or lose his hearing or his ability to walk due to a stroke. He could lose the use of his right or left arm due to a stroke. He could be bedridden because of old age. These are all part of suffering for Christ. Few believers seem to accept this because they do not want to accept this, and so they murmur and complain when they grow old as Christians. They allow the notions of the world to corrupt their faith and their trust in their Heavenly father. They believe what the world parodies as loss of quality of life since they have lost their mobility in life! This lie has been embraced by believers who do not know God’s Word. The quality of life that every believer has is not bound or measured by the physical yardstick of life. It is measured by his walk with the Lord. Even when he is lying in a hospital bed with tubes in his body unable to speak, as long as he is breathing he can continue to commune with his God. He has the best quality of life on earth!

Can God make a child of God grow old in age without the loss of his five senses? He did this for Moses when Moses served the Lord in the wilderness. The Bible describes the 120 year old Moses in Deuteronomy 34:7 “And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.” Moses was healthy and strong and needed no glasses to see or a walking stick to walk till the Lord took him home. If God wants all His children to age with fullness of health and strength, He definitely can make it happen. However, we know from experience and eye witness and the study of the Bible that this is not the case for many of His children. Moses was a unique example applicable to Moses only. Therefore when God allows His children to grow old as they witness for Him on earth with all the aches and pains from growing old, it can be considered as part of suffering for Christ as they witness in pain. Dear believer, do not indulge in self pity but continue to look up. Your heavenly Father knows what He is doing, for His grace will always be our sufficiency. Learn to shine brightly for Christ in times of youth and painlessness as well as in times of age and painfulness.

IV. Suffering for Christ includes sickness – Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Great Physician. There is no sickness that He cannot heal with a single word. He demonstrated His divine ability to heal all diseases: from internal bleeding to blindness, deafness, dumbness, demon possession and even to being raised from the dead. Therefore if God wants all His children to serve Him till they are called home to glory in fullness of health and strength, He definitely can do so. However, we know this is not the case from experience and in biblical teaching. Job is a clear case in point. Job lost his beloved sevens sons and three daughters in one day (cf. Job 1) which resulted in an emotional turmoil within him that is unimaginable. No parent would want to even imagine losing one child, least of all losing all ten children in one moment! Job suffered great mental and emotional pain. He did not sin against God in his suffering for Christ. He said in Job 1:21-22, “And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. 22 In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.” Then he lost his health (Job 2) for the sake of Christ as he was tested to his extreme limits. The pain was so severe that he had to sit on ashes and scrape his sores to find some relief. The test was again to see if he would curse God and die which was what his wife asked him to do! Thank God Job did not. Instead he said to her, “Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.” (cf. Job 2:7-10)

As long as the child of God remains on earth as God's holy witness (there is no other reason for his time here on earth after salvation), all the pain that he endures is part of suffering for Christ. If the sickness is not a result of sin, like what some of the Corinthian Christians experienced because they “played the fool” with the Lord’s Supper (cf. 1Corinthians 11:29-30), then it is to test the faith of the believer as God’s Word teaches in James 1:2-4, “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; 3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. 4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” This is not like the temptation that Satan sets in front of the believer to seduce him into sin, like what Potiphar’s wife did to young Joseph (cf. Genesis 39). The temptations that God allows in the life of His children are meant for them to see the goodness of the Lord in the believer’s life. They are meant to strengthen him in the inner man so that his faith will be complete. The suffering believer can then say that not only did he trust God in times of health but also in times of sickness. Therefore when a child of God is sick on earth, which is not a result of sin, he is suffering for Christ in his witness. With this understanding, the child of God will learn to accept his lot like Paul did when he was afflicted with a chronic pain that the Bible describes as a thorn in his flesh. This was meant to keep him humble so that he would continue to trust in God and not in himself because of the great revelations that God gave to Paul (cf. 2Corinthians 12:7-9). Be cheerful in times of health as well as sickness. Thank God that He has counted you worthy to suffer for Christ through your sickness.

Conclusion – A sinner suffers on earth for his sins or for some earthly cause that he believes is worthy of death. Even if he wants to suffer for the Son of God he cannot. However, every child of God must suffer for Christ. He must count it a joy and a privilege that God would count him worthy to suffer for Christ. This is the life of all children of God as they serve and also suffer for Christ till Christ returns. 2 Timothy 3:12, “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” Amen.