Jesus: man of sorrows

As I've looked at grief and suffering in the Scriptures, these verses have really struck my heart:

'He was despised and rejected by men;
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.' (Isaiah 53:3-4)

When we walk the path of sorrow, we can know that our Saviour leads us along the way, because He has been there. Jesus knew the pain of suffering. He bore our pain as well as His own. Think about it: the eternal Son took on flesh and submitted Himself to suffer and die. He 'became obedient to death - even death on a cross!' (Phil 2:8). We won't ever understand completely the depths of His suffering, but whenever we suffer, we can know that He understands our grief completely.

Jesus comes as Emmanuel, God with us (Matthew 1:23), but from His birth He was rejected, born in humble surroundings and soon forced to become a refugee to Egypt. He worked as a carpenter for 18 years, the 'unknown years' we know virtually nothing about. He led an ordinary human existence in those years and as a manual labourer, a tradesman, He would have known pain and tiredness. Yet, unlike us, He never allowed His own physical frailty to lead Him into sin. He never lost His temper, never said anything He later regretted. He was a man who suffered without sinning.

We like to make excuses for ourselves, don't we? When we're feeling ill or tired, we snap a little more easily, but we shrug it off. I do it all the time! Yet at those times when we're humanly at our weakest, God invites us to draw near, to say 'no' to the opportunity for sin, and 'yes' to deeper imitation of our perfect Saviour. He did it, and by His Spirit He gives us power to do it too.

Suffering in Ministry: Following Paul's example

The apostle Paul gives us an amazing example of someone who followed Christ faithfully in a ministry that was full of suffering. Although he had the joy of planting churches and pioneering gospel work in places where Christ was not known, he also had the hardship of opposition constantly throughout his ministry. Using the book of Acts and Paul's letters in the New Testament, we can build a detailed picture of what his ministry life was like. It certainly wasn't glamorous or free from pain. He faced jealousy from the Jews, who often rejected him (see Acts 13-14). He dealt with deceit and imprisonment (Acts 16), and also had to fend off the false teaching of fake apostles in places where the church was young and fragile (see his letter to the Galatians).

Before Paul was converted, he sought to imprison Christians and even watched Stephen die as a martyr for his faith (Acts 7). So when he became a believer after a dramatic encounter with Christ (Acts 9), he knew that his life would be endangered. Although Acts ends with Paul continuing with a growing ministry, he was martyred in Rome some time later.

Here's what he wrote about his sufferings in ministry:

'To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer kindly. We have become the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world – right up to this moment. I am writing this not to shame you but to warn you as my dear children. Even if you had ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. Therefore I urge you to imitate me. For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church.' (1 Cor 4:11-17)

The scum of the earth! Paul could not have been in ministry for the fame and fortune. Through his suffering he was able to prove his authenticity as an apostle, and when we suffer in ministry, it gives us a similar opportunity to prove how real our faith is to a watching world. Paul urges the Corinthians to imitate him, because his way of life was consistent with his teaching. That's a huge challenge to anyone in ministry! At any point, you should be able to urge your church to imitate you, because you walk the talk. Whether you urge them to or not, they will still be photocopying your lifestyle.

Look at what Paul writes in another letter:

'Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. I have laboured and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I do not feel weak?' (2 Cor 11:24-29)

In all of these pressures on Paul in his ministry, he was made to feel his weakness constantly. But, as he goes on to write, God wants His servants to serve Him in weakness, because then they rely on His strength. Paul writes,

'I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.' (2 Corinthians 12:7-10)

When we suffer and we're in ministry, we can't just wish God would take all the pain away so we can 'get on with the job'. Suffering is part of ministry, part of the call, because it's an integral part of following Christ. We have to learn to trust in His grace despite our weakness. I'm challenged by Paul's example, as I see him
☻ constantly in prayer - his weakness driving him to the Lord, not to despair (1 Thess 5:16-18)
☻ taking joy in the gospel - seeing it bear fruit despite his personal suffering (Col 1:6)
☻ rejoicing in the finished work of Christ - knowing his salvation didn't depend on his ministry efforts (Phil 3:7-12)
☻ trusting that Christ is coming - the day of suffering will come to an end (1 Thess 3:13)
☻ persevering in preaching, teaching and discipling - passing on the baton (2 Tim 1:13-14)
☻ praising God's wisdom - understanding that we don't always understand God's ways (Rom 11:33-36)

Let's imitate Paul as he imitates Christ, and call on those around us to do so too.

Suffering in Ministry: Following Christ's example

We know that suffering is an inevitable part of life this side of heaven; we live in a world of death, grief, illness, relational difficulties and all kinds of struggles. But I thought it would be interesting to look at what the New Testament teaches on suffering specifically in Christian ministry. It's no newsflash to know that Christians suffer, but in an era of tele-evangelists asking for cash and a very prosperous Western church in general, you could be forgiven for thinking that those in ministry perhaps were exempt from life's struggles. That's not the picture that Scripture gives at all, and it's not the reality of life in ministry.

In brief, then, here's the deal: as Christians, we will face rejection from men just as Jesus did. Fact. 'If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated Me first.' (John 15:18) The church will be attacked from within and outside continually (just read through the book of Acts, where the apostles dealt with multiple plots, arrests, imprisonment, violent mobs, deception and character assassination). Serving in ministry means becoming involved in this very real spiritual battle. You're going straight into the firing line!

When you're in ministry, then, you need to be prepared for trials. You need to imitate Christ in those trials, maintaining joy and faithfulness despite suffering, knowing that those around you will imitate you and follow your example.

The Example of Jesus Christ
I could write blog posts on all of these points, but I'm going to keep it brief!
☻ Prayer. Don't forget that Jesus lived on earth as a human, and He lived His life in perfect dependence on His Father, shown in His need to pray constantly. (Mark 1:35, Matthew 14:23, Luke 6:12, Luke 22, John 17 for some examples)
☻ Trust. He continued to trust God's plan even when personally rejected and ultimately crucified. (eg. John 19:11 where Jesus tells Pilate ‘You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.')
☻ Giving to others. He constantly had hoards of people coming to Him for healing and teaching, and He ministered to them with compassion. (Matthew 9:36)
☻ Singing in the shadow of the cross (Matthew 26:30). After celebrating the Passover meal with His disciples, where He taught them the true meaning of this festival was to point towards how His body would be broken and His blood poured out for the forgiveness of sins, Jesus sang a hymn then went out to Gethsemane, where He would pray in agony of spirit then be betrayed, arrested, and sent to the cross. Despite the weight of this knowledge, He sung praise to His Father (probably Psalms 113-118 which were usually used at this feast). In our sufferings (which must be meagre in comparison), we should do the same.

Ecclesiastes: making sense of suffering

When I think about the pain of grief and suffering, I come to this conclusion: anything which wakes me up out of my apathy and loosens my grip on this world, and increases my longing for the next, is an act of God's mercy and grace in my life. I may not like it and it may not be comfortable, but, like a fire drill, it is essential to prepare me for my heavenly home.

I think this is the main thrust of the book of Ecclesiastes. Suffering, toil and grief on the earth remind the philosopher that everything on earth is, in a sense, 'meaningless': that is, it lacks an eternal value, and in the sweep of even human history many of our endeavours turn to dust just like our mortal flesh. Life is beautiful, precious and fragile; it is also frustrating, unfulfilling and painful. The life we experience as fallen beings is not the life we were designed and created for. We are terrified and unsatisfied with the concept of death because we were never meant to taste it. The futility of our lives and our world was not there in the beginning, and one day will be removed. Only in God's new creation can we really know true life, life to the full, life in abundance, life without limits.

So the main point of Ecclesiastes is the necessity of fearing God in a fallen, and frequently confusing and frustrating world (ESV study notes). The book is full of penetrating observations which spur the listener on to deeper thought and reflection.

'He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.' (Ecc 3:11)

Every human being wants to find out and understand all the ways of God in the world, but he cannot, because he is not God. Yet the faithful do not despair but cling to Him: 'fear God and keep His commandments (Ecc 12:13). This is true wisdom.

Rather than becoming embittered by what God has not granted, we should enjoy all the gifts He has given.

'There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance' (Ecc 3:1-4)

'In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him.' (Ecc 7:14, ESV)

Let suffering do its work - let it teach you of your own mortality and fallenness. May it drive you to the feet of your Saviour, and make you cling to His love alone above all the securities this world can offer. May it open your eyes to see Him more clearly and understand something more of eternity.