Suffering For Christ's Sake

[stephen]

"If you suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are you - 1 Peter 3: 14
The motto of the Moravians, and the badge attached to their motto, was an ox with a plough on one side and an alter on the other, and underneath in Latin, Ready for either.

Ready for service, to plough hard ground; ready for sacrifice, to be offered up in death. Sometimes we Christian preachers give the impression that all the hearers have to do is to turn to Christ Jesus, and that is the end of all the difficulties of life; and the end of all suffering they may have to face - or at least, a great modification of it. They will not have problems like non-Christians.

Peter would never have talked like that. Paul never talked like that. Becoming a Christian not only means believing on Him and going to heaven to be with Him for eternity when we die, but 'unto you', says Paul, writing to the Philippians, 'is graciously granted not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake'. 'Go and tell Saul.' said our Lord to Ananias, 'how great things he must suffer for my sake.'

Now we read very clearly in these verses that we may have to suffer. We read, at the same time, that we cannot be harmed by the suffering. 'Who is he that will harm you if you be followers of that which is good?' (v13) Oh they may hurt your body, they may hurt your eyes, they may hurt your ears, they may hurt your hands, they may maim you physically; but they cannot harm you.
You are not your body, you are just living in your body for a short while, and then by and by, out of it to be with Christ, which is far better. And at His coming to be given a glorious resurrection body, which is infinitely better than anything we can know here.
Leith Samuel

 

[Br. Bear]

Greetings and thank you Stephen.

May I add this to your thread?

From the Keswick Convention 1962
God's Happy People - Francis W Dixon

I WANT to speak to you about God's
happy I people; and our text is taken from
Psalm 34, part of v. 8, and part of v. 22—
"Happy is the man that trusteth in Him . .
. None of them that trust in Him shall be
unhappy."
...
I want to ask, and to answer, the
question, What are the grounds of our
happiness? Why are God's people happy?
Or, perhaps I should put it this way, Why
should God's people be a happy people?
Let us turn to this happy psalm, and see
the answer to that question.
I suggest first, that God's people are
happy because they have all their
thoughts established. All their thoughts
of God, and of His dealings with them,
and of His purposes with them and
through them and for them; all their
thinking is established.
Now we get this in vv. 1-3, "I will
bless the Lord at all times: His praise
shall continually be in my mouth. My
soul shall make her boast in the Lord:
the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad. O magnify
the Lord with me, and let us exalt His Name
together." Now there is a happy man for you!
But, tell me this: What is the most important
word in those three verses? I believe it is the
little word "all" in v. 1. David is saying,
"Whether things are pleasing or painful,
whether the sun is shining or the sky is
clouded, I will bless the Lord at all times."
Because, you see, He is my loving heavenly
Father, and all my times are in His hand, and
He is planning my pathway; and if I am in
trouble or distress, or if the clouds are over
the sun, well, it is quite all right. He has not
altered one little bit. My thoughts about my
God and my Father are established. They are
not wavering about, one day thinking He
loves me and the next day questioning His
loving wisdom. Oh, no! "I will bless the Lord
at all times. His praise shall continually be in
my mouth."
Some of you who have read, the Life of C.
T. Studd will remember that it was this
verse that Mrs. Studd read—I believe it was
in her Daily Light—when she bade farewell to
her husband, who went back to Africa for
the last time to blaze a trail, and to give his
life in dedicated missionary service. She
knew that probably she would never see him
again on this earth. She knew that she
would have to face loneliness now for many
years. But this is what she said, "I will bless
the Lord at all times: His praise shall
continually be in my mouth."
It is not easy to be happy in such a situ-
ation; but she was. She rejoiced. And that is
what I mean by having our thoughts
established. Some Christians are only happy
when everything pleases; when they can
trace in some measure, or think they can
trace, God's dealings with them. But others,
like the psalmist, know that because He is
their gracious and loving heavenly Father,
who is planning their life for them, all things
are working together for their good and for
His glory; and so they praise the Lord and
bless His holy Name at all times. And that is
the first ground of the Christian's happiness.
God's people are happy because they have all
their thoughts established.
Through all the changing scenes of life, In
trouble and in joy,
The praises of my God shall still
My heart and tongue employ.
When Paul and Silas, who were outstand-
ing servants of God, and might have expected
preferential treatment, found themselves in
prison with their feet in the stocks, and their
backs bleeding, at midnight they began singing
praises to God, because their thoughts of
Him, and of His dealings with them, were
established. Their joy was not affected one
little bit. In fact, wonder of all wonders,
through the Spirit of grace and glory that
rested upon them in the time of testing, their
joy was increased, and they sang praises to
God at midnight.
_____
Thank you again, Stephen,

Bless you ....><>

 

[Curtis]

1John 5:19 We know that we are children of God. We know that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.

To a born again Christian God now begins to lead them by his Spirit, and to those who are mature enough the "Love" of God controls them. Being lead of the Spirit can, and does lead us away from troubles that we could no possible see on our own. Jesus was lead of the Holy Spirit at all times and yet he still "suffered" at the hands of sinners. We as Christian will always come in contact with those who are under the control of the wicked one, but there is no fear to what they can do to us, it is just another opportunity for us to pierce the darkness with the Word of God.