I’M repeating myself I know, but I said at the opening of this chapter study that,
For many a year, if not most of my Christian life, Phil. 3:10 …had eluded my understanding, experience, and comprehension. I just didn’t get it, and as our author states in his opening, this is a verse that is “often quoted but seldom understood.”
AGAIN, I believe the most significant reason for this has to do with the principle of suffering. If there is anything we would “rather not do” is suffer. Human nature understandably seeks to avoid suffering, but as our author points out – “There is no fellowship with, and growth in, the crucified Lord without suffering.” This is consistent with our Lord’s and His Apostles’ teaching that we will not enter, nor advance in the Kingdom without trials and difficulties – suffering.
OUR author will open the next section with “Suffering is the lot of all men, the privilege of all believers.” I have this to my collection of quotes. Here are few from that collection related to the necessity of suffering:
- “Everything that is truly of Christ—bears the print of the nails.” – JRM
- “The real problem is not why some pious, humble, believing people suffer, but why some do not.” – CSL
- “We can sometimes see more through a tear than through a telescope.” – anon
- “The eternal struggle against our weakness is the central drama of life. Those who achieve that victory over self achieve true tranquility.” – DB
- “Suffering brings us to an end of our self; only then, emptied of self can Christ enter in.” – anon
THESE are the shorter ones; I’ve more, lengthier quotes on suffering, making the point that though we may not want to hear it, “difficulties are [indeed] desirable” – M. Gladwell.
OKAY, I’ve mentioned twice now that when I think on these things, getting on in my years, I can’t help think about “that moment” years ago when I was a young man stepping into my step-father’s office at home, interrupting him in a moment alone with his Lord. So let me finally get to it.
I CANNOT convey here all that my step-father meant to me, and the impact he had on my life in general, Christian Life specifically. The two verses below my salutation are directly derived from my thoughts of him. My actual father died when I was rather young, and my step-father came into my life as I was entering the teen years. At that time he was advanced in years, not only in age, but also in his Christian walk. As such I knew him only in the later chapters of his life. The “quietness and confidence shall be your strength” of Isa 30:15 was exemplified in him in every way. But I recall the day I walk into his home office unannounced. I found him seated at his desk with open Bible, tears running down his cheeks. When he noticed me standing there dumbfounded, wondering what was wrong he said, “I am such a wrenched sinner.” … It is said that those who walk closest to the Lord are most aware of their own sin and unworthiness. I remember my thoughts at that moment being, “What hope have I; what hope have I?” My step-father exemplified such consistent “Joy of the Lord” (Neh. 8:10) and “quiet confidence” and peace, and yet there he was in soulful lamentation. But here we need to look at the third verse under my salutation, Job 2:10, “Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” You see I envied my step-father for what he possessed, but I didn’t quite understand it either; because, up to that moment, I had only seen one half of the picture that made up the story of his life. That day gave me a glimpse into the inner-man before the open word, and a struggle that is common to all living between the cross and heaven; the already, but not yet; redeemed, but not full delivered living out the rest of their story. And here’s the rest of the story, or better, the whole story.
WHEN my step-father died, his sons (my two step-brothers) and I went through his office files to clean things out so Mom didn’t have to do it. To our amazement, we found hidden away his personal and private notes; things people didn’t know; a journal that he kept to himself. This was his untold story of his beginning that told of a struggle and difficult journey in search of life’s meaning, faith and his God. As we read, we realized that his “quiet confidence” and “joy” did not come by an easy path, but through hardship and difficulty, a faith founded and deeply rooted in the death and resurrected Christ. We saw that if we truly wanted what he had in the end, there is no other path worthy to follow, then in the one where the steps lead to Christ over the hard fought, cross-stained ground. (1Cor. 11:1)
AGAIN, let me restate that much of my recent studies have taken me into this thing I call the Theology of Sufferings, and here is one conclusion I’ve come to. In the Principle of Assimilation described in 2 Cor. 3:18 and defined in Phil 3:10, you cannot get from “Knowing Him” to “Conformity to Him” without traveling through the path of “Suffering in Him.” There is no way around it, no short-cuts around Psalm 23:4, and to the degree one encounters those difficulties, the deeper the imprint of Christ will be.
Okay, I’ve gone long today, so our reading will be very brief, looking at just the first paragraph of the next section for the moment. That’s enough for now.
In the inexorable riches of Christ,
Joe
Neh. 8:10; Isa 30:15; Job 2:10; Jas 1:2; Prov. 21:30
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Chapter 50—Reckoning in Philippians 3:10 – Part 3
“The fellowship of His sufferings.” Suffering is the lot of all men, the privilege of all believers. The general thinking is that God is not blessing unless He keeps us from, or relieves us of, suffering. Far from it! There is no fellowship with, and growth in, the crucified Lord without suffering—physical, mental, and spiritual. …to be continue
