I Want to Know the Fellowship of Christ's Sufferings
Philippians 3v10, Part 3
18th August 2023
We've been thinking about:
Philippians 3v10-11
I want to know him [Christ] and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship
of his sufferings, becoming like him in his death
and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect,
but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.
Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing
I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on
toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in
Christ Jesus.
In the first part of verse 10, Paul writes about three priorities. We've thought about Paul's first priority - his desire to know Christ better, and his second priority - to know, to experience, the power of Christ's resurrection. We now consider his third priority, which is by far the most challenging:
Paul wanted to know the fellowship of Christ's sufferings
This idea of sharing in Christ's sufferings can be understood in two ways, and they're both true. Firstly, as we've already seen, we have a share in Christ's sufferings on the cross. Through faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we've died to our old lives - our old selves - and have been raised to live new lives with Him:
Romans 6v3-5
… Don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were
baptized into His death?
We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death, in order that,
just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too
may walk in newness of life.
For if we have been united with him like this in His death, we will certainly
also be united with him in His resurrection.
This is the first sense of our share in Christ's sufferings: we share His death and in His resurrection, and so are forgiven, washed clean, adopted as children of God, given the Holy Spirit, and guaranteed eternal life. Hallelujah! There is also a second sense in which we share Christ's sufferings, and we must not overlook it or try to avoid it. We must suffer with and for Christ, as Paul wrote to Timothy:
2 Timothy 3v12
… all who desire to live godly lives in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
Jesus Christ died in our place to give us new life, real life, that we could never otherwise have known. Surely we all want to live for Christ, to serve Christ, if only out of gratitude. But if we choose to live an authentic Christian life, we must embrace suffering or, at least, the possibility of suffering. Paul urged Timothy:
2 Timothy 2v3
Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
Paul knew that the privilege of serving the Gospel and the church comes at a cost. He told the church at Collosae:
Colossians 1v24
Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what
is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of his body,
which is the church.
Although we in the UK don't suffer anything like as much as Christians in many other parts of the world, many British Christians in our generation are overlooked for promotion, shunned, mocked or even fired from their jobs or thrown our of university because they try to live the Christian life. There is a price to pay, but there is also much to gain. Jesus told us in advance that to suffer for living a genuine Christian life is a blessing and an honour:
Matthew 5v11-12
"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all
kinds of evil against you because of me.
Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same
way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."
Peter understood this:
1 Peter 4v13-14
... rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may
be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.
If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the
Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.
Do you remember the story of when Peter and John were punished by the Sanhedrin because they preached the Gospel? Their response to being mistreated was to rejoice:
Acts 5v40-41
… They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not
to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.
The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted
worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.
I don't think many of us think like this. We're more likely to respond to suffering in the name of Christ with self-pity or moral outrage. There's a part of me that would like to avoid all suffering if possible. But there's another part of me that understands that to belong to Christ, to identify with Christ, to walk with Christ, involves suffering with Christ and for Christ. More than this, there's a part of me that understands I will never fully know Christ if I never share in suffering with Him.
Romans 8v17
Now if we are [God's] children, then we are heirs - heirs of God and co-heirs
with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also
share in his glory.
William Hendriken, commenting on this verse, wrote "We can add nothing to Christ's redemptive suffering for us, but by means of our willingness to suffer for his sake we are drawn closer to the Saviour's heart."
C. S. Lewis wrote, "There is no wisdom or virtue in seeking unnecessary martyrdom or deliberately courting persecution; yet it is, none the less, the persecuted or martyred Christian in whom the pattern of the Master is most unambiguously realised."
Philippians 1:27b-29
... you stand firm in one spirit, contending side by side for the faith of the
gospel,
without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a clear
sign of their destruction but of your salvation, and it is from God.
For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him,
but also to suffer for him.
John Calvin, commenting on this passage in his usual forthright manner, wrote, "… the endurance of the cross is the gift of God. Now it is certain, that all the gifts of God are salutary to us. To you, says he, it is given, not only to believe in Christ, but also to suffer for him. Hence even the sufferings themselves are evidences of the grace of God; and, since it is so, you have from this source a token of salvation. Oh, if this persuasion were effectually inwrought in our minds - that persecutions are to be reckoned among God's benefits, what progress would be made in the doctrine of piety! And yet, what is more certain, than that it is the highest honour that is conferred upon us by Divine grace, that we suffer for his name either reproach, or imprisonment, or miseries, or tortures, or even death, for in that case he adorns us with his marks of distinction. But more will be found that will rather bid God retire with gifts of that nature, than embrace with alacrity the cross when it is presented to them. Alas, then, for our stupidity!"
As Paul and James explained, the suffering we endure is good for us. This is true not only of persecution but of all forms of suffering. God is more interested in our sanctification than our comfort, while we are in danger of being more interested in our comfort than our sanctification:
Romans 5v3-4
... we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces
perseverance;
perseverance, character; and character, hope.
James 1v2-4
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you encounter trials of many kinds,
because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.
Allow perseverance to finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete,
not lacking anything.
Can we believe this? Do we believe it? Paul wanted to know the fellowship of Christ's sufferings. Do we? As I asked in our first study on Philippians 3v10, do Christians in our generation even think in these terms?
Next week: becoming like the crucified Christ