Sharing in Christ's Sufferings

"But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ--the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ--yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead."(Phil. 3:7-11)

"But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body." (vv. 20-21)

"Brethren, the test of us who have the life of Christ in our hearts is that we shall, in some measure, suffer with Him, because 'as He is, so are we, in this world,' and because we must in that case look upon the world, its sins and its sorrows, with something of the sad gaze with which He looked across the valley to the Temple sparkling in the morning light, and wept over it. So if we know the power of His Resurrection we shall know the fellowship of His sufferings." (Biblehub.com commentator)

This issue of sharing in Christ's sufferings is not a fun or popular topic to talk about. Imagine sharing Christ with someone and the main promise you can offer them is that once they commit their life to Christ they will suffer (to some extent). What a selling point! No wonder many people say "Thanks, but no thanks." If God calls His people, and His Son especially, to suffer, does He really love them? What exactly is the point of suffering, and why does it seem to be such an integral way God chooses to reveal Himself and redeem His people?

Clearly, I don't have a neat answer for this, because I don't believe God chooses to reveal all His mysteries to us, and the problem of evil and suffering is one of those mysteries.

However, after studying and reading and living through a small measure of suffering I have been able to make some observations:

1. What we consider "being in control," and "choosing our own way" can and does often lead to the most suffering.

2. When our focus is on knowing Christ and sharing fellowship with Him, losses and sufferings don't seem so devastating.

3. Everyone who lives in this world experiences some measure of suffering or loss. We can either do this with or without inviting God into it. Suffering can bring us greater intimacy with the lover of our souls if we will trust Him with our hearts.

As to the first point, I think we can all think back on times in our own lives or the lives of our children where we or they knew the right thing to do, but it seemed too costly or inconvenient so we took the easy way out. Although the "easy" way out led to much greater and costlier consequences than we could ever have imagined. Proverbs 14:12 says, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death." Clearly, we just don't always see or accept what is right and we can't even see that what seems pleasant or right is a path leading to our own suffering. I have done this many times: started a small habit that didn't seem too harmful, but after a while I realized that sin tends to snowball and all of a sudden it's much harder to stop once it's become such a part of my life. Of course, God always offers us a way out, but usually it's after we have brought pain to ourselves and others. Sin always, always, always has consequences. Sometimes I wish it weren't true, but we cannot sin in a bubble. We think it will bring us freedom or ease but in the end sin is a much harsher master than our gentle Savior.

When Paul says that whatever was a gain to him is now a loss, and vice versa, it seems he is being reckless. Does he really not care about his reputation, his possessions, his comfort, his personal happiness?

It would seem not.  This is a man who has truly lost all things, endured beatings, shipwrecks, and imprisonments, yet his passion and joy never waver. What is his secret to being so buoyant in the face of such hardships? He even says, "I want to know Christ--yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead."(Phil. 3:7-11) The promise of knowing Christ and experiencing His resurrection power in His life is worth far more to him than his own personal comfort and happiness. He desires to share in Christ's sufferings because He has caught sight of something that is invisible to many but is the way to real life and joy.

If someone were dying of a rare cancer with no cure, and she were offered a medicine that would save her life, but the cost would be losing every material thing she owned: her house, car, money, etc. I think that woman would gladly exchange all those things to have her life and health restored. From the outside, if somebody didn't know she had an incurable cancer they might consider her a fool for gladly giving up her material possessions. But she has a secret joy, knowing that what she is gaining is far greater than what she is losing. While she was facing death, now she is being given the gift of life.

In the same way, when we can comprehend and see the gift of life God offers us in following Him, the gains of this world don't seem so appealing. In fact, we can see them in the light of eternity and see their true value compared to fellowship with God and eternity with Him.

Thirdly, our sufferings bring us a mysterious fellowship with the One who suffered the greatest suffering anyone has endured. Jesus as God, chose to bear the full weight of death, sin, and separation from the Father on our behalf. When we suffer, we are truly His brothers and sisters, and He is with us in a special way even if we don't feel it.

Ten years ago, we lost our 4 year old son, Joseph, to brain cancer. He was our first child and we were blind-sided by his diagnosis of cancer. When we were lying with him on the bed as he took his last breath and his soul flew to heaven, I was hoping God would give me some experience of His closeness and presence or some assurance that Joseph was with Him. I desperately wanted a sign from heaven that God was near.

Instead, what I felt was nothing. No bright light from heaven, no warm feeling of His Spirit close to us, just agonizing separation and grief. God did give my husband a feeling and assurance of His presence, which I'm so grateful for, but I've often wondered why God didn't choose to give that to me? In my human mind, it seemed if He was going to take Joseph, that would have just been a nice thing to do.

Just a couple of weeks ago, I was reading my kids The Jesus Storybook Bible before school, as I try (and fail) to do every morning. We read a chapter I know I've read numerous time to them over the years about the crucifixion of Jesus. Jesus is there nailed to the cross, experiencing unfathomable pain and humbling Himself to the fullest extent, and he cries out to his Father.

"Papa?" Jesus cried, frantically searching the sky. "Papa? Where are you? Don't leave me!"

And for the first time--and the last-- when he spoke, nothing happened. Just a horrible, endless silence. God didn't answer. He turned away from his Boy.

I stopped reading as these verses hit me. I'm sure my kids wondered why I stopped in the middle of the story. But for the first time I saw the connection between "sharing in Christ's sufferings" and my life. These words captured exactly how I felt when Joseph died. It felt like "a horrible, endless silence. God didn't answer." It fel like God was punishing me and pulling away from me. I don't completely understand why I felt that way, but I did all of a sudden see clearly that in that moment I was sharing in Christ's sufferings. When Joseph's soul left us and I would never again talk to him and hold him in this life, I experienced in a small way how Jesus felt when the Father turned His face away from him.

It meant the world to me that I might have a glimpse into how Jesus felt as He suffered for me, but it also reminded me that he can relate to my sufferings. Not only are we sharing in His sufferings when we go through trials, but He is sharing in our sufferings as well. What a humble, generous Savior--to humble Himself from his position as God, become a human and suffer in every way so that He could truly be present in everything we endure in this life. Instead of feeling mad at God for being absent when I need Him most, I saw He was actually most present.

It is so hard to live in this world, and be a citizen of whatever country you live in, fulfilling all your many responsibilities, while also remembering where our true citizenship lies. In order to make sense of our lives and our sufferings, we desperately need to remember that this world is preparing us for our true home. We are not meant to feel utterly fulfilled and comfortable here--that will be given to us in heaven.