Joy in Suffering

True joy is supernatural; it is an outworking and evidence of the Spirit of God living in you. Nothing in this world can give you joy and nothing in this world can take it away. The joy and peace of the Lord are present in your life during the good times and the bad.

In fact, it is often more apparent when times are hard because having joy and peace during trial isn’t a logical and normal reaction. We find joy in suffering, persecution and trial for a few reasons. For one, it produces perseverance like it tells us in James 1. Also, because it works out the image of Christ in us. And because our unwavering devotion to Christ amid suffering brings much glory to God.

“… as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.” Philippians 1:20 (ESV)

This is what a surrendered life to the service of Christ looks like. Many people claim to have a saving faith and relationship with Christ and say that they love him. Don't be deceived! If your love for God is a love that is unwilling to suffer and sacrifice, it is no love at all. 

Now don’t confuse what I’m saying. I am not saying your love or lack of love for God somehow brings about salvation. Salvation is a free unearned gift from God. 

What I am saying is, how could someone who has been saved by God and overcome with his amazing grace not love God? The answer is he can’t. Love is a fruit of the Spirit and reciprocating the love God has shown us in the gospel is an obvious byproduct of someone who has been reborn and transformed by the saving love and grace of God.

Christ is worthy and suffering for the one who suffered to give us life should be our greatest joy and privilege. Because we love him above all, but also because we are fully convinced of what awaits us upon our death, our eternal reward. In the New Testament the apostles were beaten and imprisoned for preaching the name of Jesus.

The Apostles Set an Example
On one such occasion in the book of Acts, Peter and John were imprisoned for preaching the gospel and during the night an angel of the Lord released them and told them to go stand in the temple courts and preach the gospel.

Afterward they were seized again and were almost put to death, but one of the teachers of the law argued against it because he didn’t want them to become martyrs and heroes and maybe start an uprising. So, the other teachers of the law agreed and instead had them severely flogged and then released. What was their response to this?

“Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus.” Acts 5:41-42 (ESV)

A joyous embrace of Christian suffering is what shines like a bright light in a dark world. If Christianity is truly everything, then the world had better see us living for it like we are ready and willing to die for it. The Christian life is about perseverance and endurance until the end.

It is the Spirit of God that will sustain us if we are really his. Our endurance is about our love for God, but it is also that we truly believe the promises he has made in his Word to those who endure until the end. We will receive a crown of life, we will be in the fullness of his love, joy and peace, that we will reign with him. What? We will reign with Christ. Yes, if we will lay this life down in exchange for the next.

“… if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us.” 2 Timothy 2:12 (ESV)

Most who claim Christ wouldn’t openly deny him with their words, although given the right circumstances some would. But your words and supposed convictions are proven true or false by your actions. If we say we love Christ but reject any part of his Word because of persecution or suffering, or because you don’t like it or culture doesn’t like it, you are rejecting Christ, because he is the Word.

The Faith of Moses
Moses in the Old Testament chose temporary affiliation for the glory of God over the treasures of this world when he left a life of privilege in the palace of Pharaoh to lead God’s people out of Egypt, through forty years in the wilderness and eventually to the promised land.

“By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.” Hebrews 11:24-26 (ESV)

Moses, Peter, John and Paul understood life through the lens of eternity. These were men who saw the Lord, knew the Lord and lived their lives accordingly. They lived lives that the words of Scripture considered worthy of the gospel of Christ.

Now don’t get me wrong, these men sinned and messed up along the way, but the core of their lives was aimed at and laid down for the glory of God. Don’t say you love God but are unwilling to deny yourself. Jesus never said following him would be easy or feel good. But he did say in light of eternity it would be worth it. The true Christian will gladly, even joyously suffer for Christ and it will be their greatest desire to obey him.

“Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” John 14:21 (ESV)

Genuine, Sacrificial Love
Christian Suffering and obedience to God doesn’t earn us anything, it is merely evidence of something. It is evidence that your life in Christ and your love of Christ are genuine. But if your desire isn’t to live a fully surrendered life that is pleasing to God, you might want to ask yourself this question: Do you really love God and are you really his? 

Don’t be deceived, biblical love is sacrificial and self-denying. And this kind of love is a fruit of the Spirit of Christ living in you. Christ Himself showed us what this looks like in his love towards us.

“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13 (ESV)

“… but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 (ESV)

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” John 3:16-17 (ESV)

Trial, Suffering and Perseverance
People who try to divorce the concept of Christian suffering from Christianity have to avoid much of the Bible and work hard to take it out of context to come up with that logic. If we are co-heirs with Christ, the Bible says we will suffer but that in the end we will have glory. If God didn't spare his own Son, why would we think we are above this?

Remember trial and suffering give us perseverance, conform us to Christ’s image and bring glory to our King. We are God’s children and are part of the family of Christ. In the life to come we will share in his glory, but only if we are willing to share in his suffering in this life.

“… and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.” Romans 8:17 (ESV)

There is no exemption for suffering in this life, but will you give your life away to let God use it for his glory and to forward his kingdom and his gospel, in blessing and in suffering, through good times and bad?

Suffering and Glory
Will you keep your eyes fixed on Jesus who is the author and finisher of our faith? He is our reward and our treasure, and nothing in this life is more valuable than him. He is worth any sacrifice or cost. Paul would say later in chapter 1 that the opportunity to suffer for the cause of Christ is a gift, just like believing in God is a gift.

“For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake.” Philippians 1:29 (ESV)

It has been granted to us like a gift. To people on the outside this doesn’t sound like a gift, but it is because they do not know the value of the Lord, it is veiled to them. The joy of proclaiming the gospel is the opportunity to unveil Christ and see men and women wake up to his majesty and glory. 

Of course, it is the Spirit God that draws men and women to salvation, not our words. But as obedient servants proclaiming his Word, we are given the great honor of being his messenger and the instrument used through God’s sovereignty to draw them in.

Although there are trials and suffering in the Christian life, they will be swallowed up like a tear in the ocean when the glory of God is revealed in us. It is not even worth comparing this life with the next, Paul says. People who are convinced of this live lives of great value for Christ and his kingdom.

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” Romans 8:18 (ESV)

More Than Conquerors
To live is Christ! Once you truly know Christ everything about life becomes about magnifying him, bringing glory to him, drawing people to him. The true Christian’s life will look like this. Once you know, you know, and you will never be the same. To die is gain.

If the life of a true disciple is made joyful and complete by living in honor of the savior, you love with all your heart. Then of course death will be your greatest gain because in death you will finally be with him face to face in the absolute fullness of his love.

And there is nothing that can ever separate those who are his from that love. In life and in death we are more than conquerors through the one who saved us. He chose us, he sought us, he bought us, he saved us, and there in nothing in the highest heaven or the deepest hell that could ever snatch us from his hands. To live is Christ and to die is gain.

In Christ,

Pastor Joshua

Joshua West is a pastor, evangelist, and author. he is also director of the World Challenge Pastors Network.