Unpacking Suffering

I am completing what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body. Col. 1:24

Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps. 1 Peter 2:21

I recently felt an urge to unpack what is really behind this word suffering after a recent discussion with my sister about this. It is one of those words with very negative emotions attached to it that I naturally have avoided. Maybe my maturity level is approaching the place where I can examine it with a more open mind and heart.

When I was young I grew up with the assumption about suffering that it was sort of something that would get you into better favor with God. Having people make fun of you for being religious was somehow something to be proud of and would maybe make you more holy. I remember a discussion I had with a stranger when I was very young who asked me what our church believed. I did not have a very clear idea of the doctrines and I was frightened by his question but at the same time felt obligated to “witness” to him. I mentioned one or two doctrines that I could remember and told him that we believed that a person should suffer for Jesus. To this day I do not know why I said that or what I was thinking but I still remember the incident and the heavy sense of duty that I felt at the time associated with my response. I wonder how much of that is still lurking within me yet today?

As with many things that have gotten turned on their head after close examination of the Word, this idea of suffering needs serious revision in my thinking. These are some questions that I need to explore:

What was involved in the sufferings of Christ?

How was it different from most of our sufferings?

Here are a few thoughts that come to my mind.

He agonized with God over His disciples as well as all the people He sought to minister to. That surely created some kind of stress, pain or suffering within Him in some way.

He never suffered anything for His own mistakes or sins. That is very different from much of our suffering.

He brought about healing by taking onto Himself our sufferings. Maybe this is getting much closer to describing the “example” that He set for us to follow. This is one of the processes that we can often use to help each other heal; we enter into another's emotions with them so that we then can show them how to return to joy. To do this effectively we need to develop and increase our own capacity as well as tap into God's capacity to partially take upon ourself the suffering, the problems, the hangups, the 6 big negative emotions that people get stuck in, and in the Spirit and power of God we come alongside them in their feelings to show them how to rise up, to help them return to the surface from their drowning emotions. We become an example for them to imitate by entering into other's suffering with open hearts just like Jesus did, not for our own sins but for the sins of those we are sent to help rescue. We become co-laborers with Christ in His sufferings which is the very process of implementing into our lives the reality of Redemption.

“Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin.” (1 Peter 4:1 NIV) Sin in its essence is a state of being desynchronized from God the Source of life. When we learn to suffer the same way Jesus did we become synchronized with the mind of God which puts us into an attitude like Jesus.

There is much more to explore about this but I will visit it at a later time. Your thoughts?

Summary of Romans 1-8

I find it necessary to sometimes stop and step back far enough to get a bigger perspective, to see a bigger picture for context so I can see better how things fit together. I have been richly blessed by an on-going intense immersion in the book of Romans over the last few months but today I felt the need to review how the detailed pieces fit together and get a better view of the picture that they collectively form.

One thing that became more clear to me as I perused over what I have learned so far is the links and associations of different passages to the two groups first identified at the beginning of the book. I had not noticed that before today and it will help me better understand what I am reading from now on. Here is my overview of Romans to this point.

The context of the letter (1:1-18)

who am I

what is my relationship to you and my thoughts toward you

what is our relationship to God and His thoughts toward us

Two groups of people in the world

open sinners in rebellion (1:18-32)

religious people trying to not look like sinners, trusting in the Law (chap. 2)

the groups are different but are all under sin (3:1-20)

God's real children

those from both groups formerly who trust in the righteousness of Jesus (3:21-31)

Abraham as an example for us (4:1-22)

The Gospel (4:23—5:11)

Two opposite legacies that we must choose between (5:12-19)

How to relate to sin and the Law

conflicting ideas about how to respond to grace (5:20—6:6)

do not stay in slavery to sin (6:7-23) (related to first group from chapter 1)

do not stay married to the Law (chap. 7) (related to second group from chapter 2)

How to live in freedom from both sin and legalism (chapter 8)

live by the Spirit of God (living from the heart Jesus gave you)

pay attention to what you pay attention to

do not live as a slave but remember you are adopted (rest and receive)

live with Him – be identified with Him (joy)

practice active communication with God

prayer communicates to Him – the Spirit can pray in and for us

listening to the Spirit receives communications from Him

allow yourself to be conformed by God's providences and promises

remember who you are

live in the total assurance of God's unconditional, unstoppable love as a conquerer

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Come to Die

One of the questions in the minds of those Paul addressed in Romans was likely, “How do I become righteous so I can be saved?” There are generally two classes of people in the world and both of them are confronted with this question. However, the two groups respond in very different ways but both ways fall short of changing relationship to heaven.

Paul started out in Romans 1 describing one group who openly turn away from God resulting in deeper and grosser open sin being demonstrated in their lives as a result. Then he goes on to describe the second group in Romans 2 who look down their noses at the open sinners and judge them as worthy of God's wrath and punishment while they work very hard to be righteous and good. Paul does not cut them any slack but exposes them as just as much trapped in sin as the ones they piously look down upon. Instead of condoning and giving credit to them for being better people than the open sinners, God magnifies His law and the impossibly stringent requirements to become perfect like Him. In so doing, the awareness of our sinful condition becomes even more obvious. “The Law came in so that the transgression would increase...”

Paul destroys all illusions of being saved by trying to be a good person and comparing ourselves with worse sinners to see how we are making progress. The main difference between the two groups internally is that the first group knows they are sinners and don't even try to get out of their situation while the second group desperately work to please or appease God and make strenuous attempts to force themselves to keep the requirements of God. These are the only two possibilities that exist for any human being born on this planet due to the condition brought about by Adam and Eve's choice in the Garden.

When God shows up in Jesus He does not compliment anyone on their achievements as the second group is hoping for but He magnifies their hopeless condition in order to get them to despair and give up on their own plan for improving their condition. He applies shock treatment to their situation to get them to realize that in reality they are no closer to really being righteous than the open, flagrant sinners that they judge and condemn. He does this so that everyone from both groups will come to see the incredible solution He has provided in Jesus Christ as our new ancestor Who brings a new element of grace into the situation. He introduces the life-changing power of overwhelming grace, a word that describes the mysterious feeling in our heart when we begin to comprehend that almost everything we thought about God has been a lie and that God is exponentially better than we ever dared to hope or believe.

That realization brings us to a crisis of identity. Since all of us have perceived our value based on our performance or the value (or devaluing) messages received from those around us all of our life, we usually find it very difficult to accept God's communications about what He really thinks of us. Satan has accomplished a very effective work of thoroughly saturating us with lies, both about ourselves and about God, that has left us hopelessly incapable of living in the fiery presence of a God of infinite love, passion, full of absolute purity and justice. We are infected with a very real “demonic organism” that Paul sometimes refers to as “the flesh” or “our old self” etc. that hijacks our bodies and minds and keeps us enslaved. The only way out of our predicament is to die to the very thing that has defined our identity all of our life – a very terrifying proposition at the least.

The whole book of Romans is addressing this very situation using various angles and metaphors and stories to illustrate what needs to happen in our hearts and minds to bring us into proper relationship with God so we can live in His presence as we were originally designed and intended to do. It really doesn't matter whether we are coming from one group or the other, we all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God – the very thing that brought Jesus back from the dead. So what are the incentives H uses to get us to move in that direction?

Well, since many of us have grown up only knowing fear as the mainspring of our existence and are mostly unacquainted with love, God has to resort to using that language of fear to get us started moving in His direction for awhile. He does this, not because He wants us to live in fear all of our lives or serve Him from fear, but because at first it is the only language that we can understand and the only message we will respond to. God has to use what we can relate to to lead us to a place where we will adopt the only really effective motivation in relationship with Him – love. In fact, as long as we hang on to fear as a motivation for serving God we are still unfit to safely be exposed to His overwhelming passionate love in His undiluted glory. But at first He does use messages of warning and fear to get us to realize our danger of continuing on in our present condition, either in open rebellion and sin or as deceived religious people trying to impress God enough to save us.

The most difficult transition point between living in our original condition and living a life in Christ is this requirement of death. We are naturally afraid of death in all of its aspects to some degree or another. Death is not just the loss of our physical body's life, it is losing our identity, our control over ourself and our existence and surroundings. It is losing control of our rights and privileges and advantages. Death is an end to life as we know it to be with little assurance outside our intellectual beliefs that there is anything else. Death is the ultimate weapon and threat used by fear to dominate, control and manipulate all of our lives. And yet Paul calls us to come and die if we ever want to experience the power of the resurrection of Christ in our life. It feels insane but there is no other alternative if we believe the Word of God.

To make things seem even worse, Paul says that we end up dying over and over again. He talks a great deal in Romans and his other letters about this issue of dying to sin and to ourself if we want to experience the power of God in our life. It is not a one-time choice that we can get through and then move on to a wonderful life; it is a continual fight that feels like we are fighting in the wrong direction – against ourselves instead of defending ourselves.

But die we must if we are ever to experience with Christ the resurrection-power of the glory of the Father. In fact, everyone must die sooner or later – there is no other alternative. Those who try to hang on to life now will be unprepared for the final exposition of the unveiled glory of God in the day of Judgment (Revealing). Those who surrender to die now as painful as that may be, will become literally part of the body of Christ which fits and empowers them to not just survive in the presence of the Almighty but will literally participate in the display of His glory before all of the amazed universe.

It is now that we live in the most critical time of our lives, the time called probation when, protected by a shield of grace, we are allowed to choose which way we will decide before our destiny is forever sealed and we are locked forever in the results of our present choices. We seldom think about our current life in these terms but it makes it no less true just because we fail to remain aware of the intensity of the time in which we live. “Do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?” (Romans 2:4)

God, I am far too resistant and fearful of Your call for me to come and die. I ask You to transform my life through the renewing of my mind and heart and draw me to Yourself, remove my fear and fill me with real truth about You to melt away all my reservations. Implant in me a daily willingness to die so that Jesus can be resurrected in my life and that my spirit may come alive and display Your glory. I am still learning about these things but I want to experience them as well as learn them. Help me to fully identify with the death of Jesus my Savior so that Your glory will cause me to also fully be identified with His resurrection life. All of this is only so that Your glory can be more fully displayed and Your name more fully honored.

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Glory of the Father - Prodigal Son

During the sermon yesterday God gave me a wonderful example of the glory of the Father. The pastor shared with us the story of the prodigal son and I was impressed inwardly that this was part of what I am searching for in relation to understanding what the glory of the Father means. In this story Jesus conveys to our minds and hearts a more accurate picture of the Father's attitude toward sinners. The more clearly we perceive this spirit displayed by the father in this story the more we are attracted to our Father in heaven. I know that the last few times that I really got into this story I was deeply moved, even to tears as I personally felt the power of the love displayed toward the two sons.

One of the common elements that makes this so powerful is the key word “with”. Romans 6:4 says that “we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”

“With” brings to my mind the true meaning of the word “joy”. Again, joy is when someone is glad to be with me, who values and cherishes me no matter what is going on, through thick and thin. The father in the story Jesus told displayed an overwhelming desire to be with his sons, and that included the elder son as well. The reason he was so excited about the younger son returning home was that he could once more be with him. And his sadness over the elder son was that even though he had physically been with him, emotionally he had not yet returned “home” to really be with his father and enjoy his love. This father was the embodiment of a person who thrives on joy. And this story I believe sheds a lot of light on Romans 6:4. Luke 15:32 quotes the father as saying “we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live....”

I am reminded of a statement that I learned when I was young that is very appropriate here.

Every true turning to the Lord brings abiding joy into the life. When a sinner yields to the influence of the Holy Spirit, he sees his own guilt and defilement in contrast with the holiness of the great Searcher of hearts. He sees himself condemned as a transgressor. But he is not, because of this, to give way to despair; for his pardon has already been secured. He may rejoice in the sense of sins forgiven, in the love of a pardoning heavenly Father. It is God's glory to encircle sinful, repentant human beings in the arms of His love, to bind up their wounds, to cleanse them from sin, and to clothe them with the garments of salvation. {PK 668.3}

The only reason the prodigal son returned home in the first place was not just because he thought he could get a better job there than in the pigpen but because in his deepest heart he knew that his father really cared about him. He decided to bank all of his future on the hope that his father would still want him to be with him even if it was in a diminished relationship of that of a servant. What he didn't realize was the overwhelming intensity of his father's undying passion for him that would swallow him up in the arms of love as soon as he appeared on the horizon. Likewise, “It is God's glory to encircle sinful, repentant human beings in the arms of His love, to bind up their wounds, to cleanse them from sin, and to clothe them with the garments of salvation.”

So how does this relate to Romans 6:4? The phrase “as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life” describes the “formula” for how we are to live “in Christ” as thriving Christians. I believe that it is crucial to have a deeper understanding, at the heart level, of the attitude of our Father Who is passionate and eager to encircle us in His arms of love just as we are if we are willing to come to Him. He longs to bind up our wounds, to cleanse us from sin and clothe us with the righteousness of His own Son.

“As Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father” also tells me that God's passion to be with His own Son (joy) was so powerful that not even death could prevent them from being reunited. At this point we must not forget the verse in 4:25 that inextricably links us in with this event as well. Jesus was “raised because of our justification.” According to this, Jesus could not have been raised if our justification had not been accomplished. So the very fact that Jesus is raised from the dead “through the glory of the Father” proves that we really are justified. And we can not only know that we are justified but can also have the glorious assurance of the very same passion toward us from the Father as He had for Jesus when He raised Him from the dead so they could be reunited in joy. “It is God's glory to encircle sinful, repentant human beings in the arms of His love...”

This is just the beginning my understanding of this part of Romans. Paul goes on to emphasize the importance of being identified with Jesus death if we are to live in the joy of His life. Romans 6-8 address this point over and over. But I will leave that for another time.

Father, I want my heart to really believe the truth about You that I am uncovering here. My head can acknowledge the words but my heart is much slower and often still suspicious of Your feelings toward me. Give me the heart of flesh that You promised in Eze. 36 that can respond and come alive with Your love. Remove my heart of stone and fill me with Your Spirit. I want to feel encircled by Your arms of love, not just theoretically but intensely. I need constant reassurance of how You really think about me to dispel my fears and doubts and replace the hundreds of lies about You that still hide inside of me. Fill me and surround me with Your presence and Your joy – for Your name's sake.

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Glory of the Father

Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:4)

For some time now I have been pondering what the significance of this phrase is. That it is vitally important is becoming very clear but the implications seem to be growing more every day. I keep coming back to this phrase and then carry it in the back of my mind as I read the surrounding passages to see how it is connected. It is starting to appear in my mind to be something of a lightening rod, a focal point, a small slit in the wall through which intense beams of light leak into my consciousness alluring me to widen the opening and see more clearly the source from which it comes.

I also sense that I will never come to the end of excavating the significance of this phrase in the context of the book of Romans, but if I am willing to spend some time digging for awhile the rewards may be much more than I expected. It is like a source of light that, if I carry it with me and shine it on other verses they suddenly explode with new life and meaning that I could not see before. Though I have not gone very far with this study I feel that I want to capture in writing what I am beginning to see so far. I will ignore the taunting voices inside warning me of wild speculation and accusing me of pious conceit. I am ready for the adventure of new discoveries with the accompaniment of God's Spirit as I mine the Word.

For starters I decided to look up the original word for “glory” which was not a lot of help. Then I decided to search the Word to see where it is used and to see if that sheds more light on it, especially in the same book. That began to unveil more helpful insights. This is a work in progress, not an exegesis of a finished study, so it may appear a bit rough. I am simply recording in real time what I am learning and observing and the tentative conclusions that I come to.

One aspect of this phrase that alerted me to its importance was the way that it is used to illustrate how we are to live. Throughout this whole chapter (6) the death and resurrection of Christ is used as a parallel to how we are to think and view ourselves and relate to the problem of sin within ourselves. Since this has always been quite confusing to me and difficult to grasp I am very interested in following any clues that will help to clarify my mind in this area. This parallel implies that the more I identify myself with Christ's death the more likely I will experience the power that He experienced in His resurrection. But somehow that resurrection power is realized through the glory of the Father – whatever that means! And whatever that means is vitally important for me to understand if that is in actuality to be my own experience as well. I need to understand what is meant by “the glory of the Father”, especially since it is the very means by which Jesus was wakened from death and is the same means by which I am empowered to live a new life. I am not ready to settle for simplistic pat answers on this; I want to get closer to the bottom of this truth and feel the difference it will make in my own life.

Inherent in arriving at a correct understanding of this phrase is a more accurate concept of what the Father is really like, a better picture of God than most are familiar with. For whatever this “glory” is, it has a great deal to do with who God is and what He is like.

I have been seeking a better understanding of the word glory for many years now. I realized that the typical idea of a bright, physical light emanating from a powerful, supernatural being was far too limited to be a correct understanding of this word. While it may include that idea, it has to be much more than simply a bright light. It also is much more than raw power, which too many have become addicted to in their craving for spiritual control.

Glory, I have come to understand, has much more to do with the all-around influence emanating from what a person is like, their personality as well as their characteristics and preferences. We generally sense that the more attractive a person is the more glory they have. In fact, the very act of glorifying someone is to ascribe honor and affection and adulation toward them, to express our attraction to what they represent to us. If we step back just slightly from the intensity of the crowd at, say, an American Idol show and objectively consider what is going on in the minds and hearts of the adoring fans, we can observe that they are pouring out praise and intense feelings that even enter into the arena of worship for those on the stage who make them feel good inside. Their feelings of synchronization with the performers, the perfection of the music along with how much the performer expresses what seems inexpressible in the hearts of the listeners causes them to literally give glory to the people who represent them through their superior talents. It may well be that we might be able to learn a great deal about the idea of glory if we can objectively analyze how it is expressed even in wrong settings.

The reason it may be much easier to unveil the meanings of glory in these settings more clearly than in correct worship of God is that there is so little real worship of God around us to observe. There is a great deal of glory-giving going on that passes off as God-worship but too often it is just a religious label covering over more people-worship in the guise of glorifying God. If the truth be known, most of us are too often more fond of our forms and styles of worship than we are of God Himself. We use God's name and try to say all the right spiritual-sounding things, but when the symptoms in our lives are carefully analyzed we would have to admit that we are more protective of our “form” of worship than we are of our vital relationship with God Himself.

I want to take the time to check out all the references to “glory” in the book of Romans and see how their may be linked to each other. In my mind it seems like they might be like a giant organism that grows under the surface with deep roots that is only visible when it produces another visible growth above ground. This visible point may be each time the word “glory” appears in the text. Maybe that is not the case, but for now I am going to go with it and see what emerges from that line of thought. It is a study that will take a number of postings to cover and maybe even days or weeks to explore so I will not attempt to tackle it all at once. Any thoughts, suggestions and feed-back is much appreciated.

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