It is a touchy subject, but we must talk about suffering that results from the Lord’s discipline. Hebrews 12:7-11 clearly describes what we go through when we are under the disciplinary hand of the Lord. “For the moment all discipline seems painful, rather than pleasant.” If we are honest with ourselves, we rarely associate hard times with the Lord’s discipline because we really don’t think He is that intimately involved in our lives and ministries. We more often say ‘the enemy is attacking me’ or ‘why is this happening to me – I don’t deserve this.’ Those reasons may be true, but we must be careful not to let excuses blind us from God working in us something greater for His glory and a more powerful ministry.
There is a better way of looking at suffering and difficulties that are the result of discipline. God “disciplines us for our good, that we may share His holiness” (12:10). Of course suffering and discipline is painful! But going through times like this with the attitude that we want to gain from them will deepen our faith and perfect our ability to reflect His holiness. The gain is “the peaceful fruit of righteousness” if we are “trained by it” (12:11). The next time you are going through suffering, ask the question; ‘what is God teaching me through this?’ As I lay in a hospital bed in a foreign country thousands of miles from home, the Lord was teaching me some valuable lessons I hope will never be forgotten.
0 Comments
“Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same mind” (1 Peter 4:1). A quick reflection on the life of Christ makes us realize that He suffered in many ways. Remember that Jesus came to earth on a mission which required many types of suffering. He was willing to endure each suffering because He knew what His mission was; “to seek and save the lost” (Luke 19:10). Peter tells us to “arm or equip” ourselves with the “same way of thinking”. It must be an intentional attitude we take on as part of fulfilling our mission.
Suffering will always be a thing to avoid or dread unless we know clearly what our mission is! Jesus gave us our mission just as He was departing this world; “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them…teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20) and “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be My witness” (Acts 1:8). Jesus also warned that being faithful witnesses for Him would involve suffering and persecution (John 15:18-27) and is normal to a path of love for our mission. “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.” (1 Peter 4:12). “Share in suffering as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” (2 Timothy 2:3) and “the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will reward…on that Day…to all who have loved his appearing” (4:8). One of the most difficult things that anyone deals with in missions and ministry is praise from other people. We cannot control what others say to us or about us, but we can control how we respond. After the healing of the cripple in Acts 14, the crowds elevate Barnabas and Paul to Greek gods. Immediately Barnabas and Paul make it clear that they “are men of like nature with” the people (14:15) and turn their attention to the “living God, who made the heaven and the earth…who did not leave Himself without witness…to satisfy your hearts with food and gladness” (14:15-17).
A key test of our effectiveness in missions or ministry is whether we “love the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God” (John 12:43). As Pharisees, the praise of man was more important because it made much of them. John the Baptist is our model: “He (Christ) must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). How do you redirect the praise of men to the One who is only worthy of praise? Think with me for a moment about the connection between the name of God and His glory. In Isaiah 42:8 God says, “I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other.” David echoes this in Psalm 8:1; “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.” How then is this to affect us who ‘bear or carry’ the name of Jesus everywhere we go?
Notice what Jesus says to Ananias about Saul, the persecutor of the church who was suddenly stopped by the light of Christ and thoroughly converted; “But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel” (Acts 9:15). We also who are ‘chosen in Christ’ (Ephesians 1:4) ‘bear or carry’ His name wherever we go. Let us make sure we carry His name well so that others everywhere can see the glory that is embodied in that name. Be sure that nothing in our lives misrepresents that name and His glory! This is a high and holy calling – to “be to the praise of His glory” (Ephesians 1:12). After attending a mission conference and listening to a speaker who had good doctrine, but no heart and passion in his presentation for the real purpose of missions, I felt very sad. After coming home, I picked up a book by A. W. Tozer hoping to find some words that would sooth the ache in my heart. This is what I read:
“If a man have only correct doctrine to offer me I am sure to slip out at the first intermission to seek the company of someone who has seen for himself how lovely is the face of Him who is the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the Valley. Such a man can help me, and no one else can.” A. W. Tozer, The Pursuit of Man – The Divine Conquest of the Human Heart, Christian Publications, 1950, page 14. God never intended that we separate doctrine and truth from an intimate relationship with its Author. Power for transformation is not in knowledge, but in a close relationship with Jesus. I felt compelled to answer an email of someone I sense was in real distress regarding another brother in ministry. My desire is to strengthen all of our minds and hearts to maintain a godly attitude. Here are a few Scriptures to read and consider:
To be effective in missions, we must allow the Holy Spirit to maintain an acute sense of spiritual discernment in us. After Barnabas and Paul arrive at Lystra, they see “a man sitting who could not use his feet…He listened to Paul speaking. Paul looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well, said in a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet” (Acts 14:8-10).
Notice the steps of God working in this situation. The healing did not come first and the physical condition of the man was not the most important issue even though it had affected the man’s life from birth. Paul is first concerned with delivering the Word of God and Gospel of Grace. While the Holy Spirit is using Paul to preach vital truth to his listeners, He is also at work in this man to give him faith (see Eph. 2:8). Paul first discerned that God was working in the man, giving him faith so that Paul commanded the man to “Stand upright on your feet” in order to meet his physical need (Acts 14:10). The importance of these steps cannot be over emphasized. If we put the physical needs of persons above their spiritual needs, they will place more importance on their outward condition rather than seeing their relationship with Christ as the highest priority. We often forget that the physical is only temporal, while the work of God in the soul is eternal. God was already at work in the man and this required spiritual discernment with Paul to connect with what God was doing. Oswald J. Smith in his book, The Challenge of Missions (page 131-132) rightly insists that “Our business is to cooperate with the Holy Spirit…not to major on hospitals or give ourselves over to medical work…erecting schools and colleges…not to give ourselves, primarily, to the social, political and industrial betterment of those who have no interest in our Christ. Nor are we to introduce our western civilization in an effort to change the manners and customs of the people…but only to get a hearing of the Gospel.” How well do you discern what God is doing in others? Are you joining Him where He is already at work, or are you operating on your agenda hoping God will approve it? "I cared not where or how I lived, or what hardships I went though, so that I could gain souls for Christ."
David Brainerd It is good for us to ask hard questions of ourselves about our real priorities. Where does soul winning fall in your priority list? When is it more effective to flee from persecution? I do not know if there is one correct answer to that question. When we read the list of sufferings Paul endured (2 Cor. 11:24-28), it is obvious that he did not flee from every difficult situation. Yet in Acts 14:4-7, “an attempt was made by both Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to mistreat them and to stone them, they learned of it and fled to Lystra.” One thing is clear from reading Acts; the apostles were Spirit led men.
Faithfulness to proclaiming the pure gospel and the principles of Scripture will bring persecution in some form, sometime, and somewhere (2 Tim. 3:12; John 15:18-21). Persecution is not the focus of our attention. The gospel is. “Then they (the apostles) left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name” (Acts 5:41). They had done their part in being faithful to the call to preach Jesus. Whether God leads us to stay and endure suffering or flee for a safer place, let us make sure we are doing what is most effective in proclaiming Christ to those God has sent us to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ (Eph. 3:7-10). There is a very real danger of allowing opposition to overshadow and weaken our ability to proclaim Christ. In Acts 14:2-4, “unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.” From my own experience, I know how easy it is to become occupied with the opposition rather than focusing on our calling. To be distracted by opposers is fruitless and a waste of time and energy. Paul and Barnabas “remained for a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord”. As long as the door has not been shut, we must continue to allow the Holy Spirit to use us, as He did them, even in the place of opposition.
That God was working is evident by the Lord bearing “witness to the word of His grace, granting signs and wonders…by their hands”. Look for God to confirm His work through us. It is critical that we not give up during difficult times to the fear of man. We must watch all the time to see if God is working. If He is, then His presence and power will also be there. As we will see in the next blog, there are indicators that it is time to leave a situation. But at Iconium, some of the people were receiving the message because God was at work in their hearts. It was not time to leave. Never let opposition determine the direction of your ministry. It could be the very tool God uses to embolden and expand the message of the gospel and establish His truth in souls for His glory. So many leave churches today because there is disunity or opposition to the clear presentation of biblical principles from Scripture. Make sure that such decisions are not made because of personal comfort, opposing personalities or grievances. Seek always the “unity of the Spirit” and ways to “speak the truth in love” with the objective that the body of Christ “grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ” (Eph. 4:15). |
Archives
December 2023
Link To Our Old Blog:
|