In 2 Corinthians 1:3-7 it says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in ^[any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.  For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ.   But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer; and our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, so also you are sharers of our comfort.”

Very simply, this means that through our sufferings (and subsequent comfort from Christ) we are equipped to help others who are suffering. We have experienced, and will experience even more fully in the future, this same benefit through Christ. Ultimately, we will receive permanent and eternal comfort with Him in glory. Even in the present we experience comfort through the ministry of the Holy Spirit within us.

Therefore, both our sufferings and our comfort can result in comfort for others. Again, this is a reason for rejoicing. The only condition on others receiving this comfort is that they patiently endure. So we see again, that all these possible and intended benefits are conditional upon our appropriate response. That response is not to become bitter or angry or resentful or discouraged, but rather to patiently endure.

In 2 Thessalonians 1:3-7 Paul says, “We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing.  Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.  All this is evidence that God’s judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering.  God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels.”

First, note that it is for God and His Kingdom that the Thessalonians are suffering. Secondly, the fact that they are persevering in their faith in the midst of the persecution demonstrates their increasing faith and love for one another. More than that, it shows God’s righteous judgment, as it foreshadows the punishment of His enemies and eternal comfort and reward of His people.

It is by our faith and hope that we can respond now to our difficulties in such a way that proves our confidence. That faith is also increased in us and in others who observe it when we act upon it. In this way we manifest His life within us and exhibit our worthiness to inherit the Kingdom He bestows upon us. (These are Paul’s words: “you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God.”)

In 1 Thessalonians 2:14-15 Paul says, “For you, brothers and sisters, became imitators of God’s churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus: You suffered from your own people the same things those churches suffered from the Jews who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out. They displease God and are hostile to everyone.”

We see from this that one’s example in experiencing persecution and in responding to suffering are of value and encouragement for other followers of Christ who are undergoing the same. God’s people in the churches of Judea provided a model for the churches in Thessalonica in this regard.

Our suffering and our response to it, then, helps equip other believers. We can prepare them and support them in their future suffering by responding appropriately to our current suffering. We can give them solace and hope. Indeed, we can do this for all subsequent generations. Thus, our present suffering can have a cascading benefit for God’s people if we face it well.

In 1 Thessalonians 1:6-10 Paul says, “You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.  And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.  The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.”

We can see from this passage that receiving the Lord and His message in the context of severe suffering, and doing so with joy, is how we imitate the Lord, and please Him. This is also how we set an example for other believers. Paul had done this for the Thessalonians and they had in turn done that for those in the provinces of Macedonia and Achaia.

Such perseverance through suffering is inextricably intertwined with one’s testimony of the gospel. It serves as irrefutable evidence of one’s sincerity in turning away from any other commitment to serve God alone. It also demonstrates that He alone is worthy, that He alone is worth any amount of suffering. It points toward our unshakeable hope for eternal reward in the Lord.

In Acts 8:1b-5, Luke tells us, “On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.  Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him.  But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison. Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.  Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there.”

Interestingly, God had clearly told His followers, via the apostles in Jerusalem, to go to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the end of the earth to be His witnesses (Acts 1:8). They had not gone. Now, persecution arises in Jerusalem causing His followers to go out to Judea and Samaria, and still the apostles do not go. At any rate, at that time, due to the persecution, the gospel began to be spread to Judea and Samaria. This was essential for the advance of the Kingdom.

Hence we see that God can use persecution and suffering to move people where he needs them to be. This can happen on an individual level, as we have seen in a previous look at Joseph, or on a larger level such as we see here. It can be done to move the messenger of the gospel or the receivers of that message. I believe that is part of God’s purpose in the massive refugee movements we are currently seeing around the world. I believe that may also be part of God’s plan in many natural disasters. He seems quite willing to use temporal suffering to create opportunities for eternal blessing.

Acts 5: 40b-42 says, “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.  Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.”

This is an example of the proper response to persecution. The enemy, Satan, has a purpose for persecution. It is to silence us. The proper response is to consider the persecution an honor and to persist in our faithful promotion of God’s glory and Kingdom.

When we are persecuted for the sake of Christ it is a great honor for we are being identified with Him. The best way for us to honor Him in this situation is to continue to obey His command, His purpose, His intention, for spreading the good news that He is the King. He is a good King, a gracious King, a righteous King, a powerful King, a saving King, a worthy King, a loving King. He deserves all our love and devotion and obedience and service. We are privileged to have the opportunity to know Him and to serve Him.

In light of this privilege to know and serve and love Him, any cost in terms of our convenience, comfort, safety, or survival is inconsequential. The importance of our relationships, our possessions or our lives is nothing in comparison to the opportunity to know and serve Him. This is the natural and normal attitude we will have toward suffering for Him if we truly understand Who He Is.

In John 16:33 Jesus says, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

The good news for children of God is that suffering and persecution are only temporary. For at most one hundred years we will suffer, but then we will share in Jesus’ victory over death and hell and evil for all eternity. Revelation 21:3b-4 speaks of a vision of the future when a voice from heaven announces, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.  ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

We can be of good courage, knowing this future hope is sure. We are to live in a state of peace, having this assurance. We are to be encouraged because we know how the story ends. In the end, we win with the Lord.

In John 15:1-2, Jesus says, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.  He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.”

Being “in Christ” means we will bear fruit. Fruit is evidence of His life in us. Later in this chapter in verse 8 we are told, “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” At the very heart of our purpose is glorifying God. Thus, bearing fruit, even much fruit, is an indispensible aspect of our core reason for existing.

One important purpose and reason for suffering in our lives is to “prune” us so we will bear more fruit. For a time, I was a blackberry farmer. You have to be a heartless person if you are a successful blackberry farmer. Each year from each blackberry plant you allow only to shoots (canes) to grow. You cut off all the rest. Then you regularly prune off all branches or shoots that grow off of those two. What is left you tie off to the stake and the two wires between stakes so that all that remains is tied to those supports. That means you end up pruning about 90% of the growth. In the end, the entire plant is covered with large, luscious, delicious blackberries. The plants couldn’t possibly produce that amount of fruit if the plants had not been brutally pruned. Also, the plants couldn’t possibly support that amount of weight if they weren’t tied inextricably along the supporting wires and stakes. The “extreme” pruning is necessary if you want to maximize fruitfulness.

I no longer farm blackberries. We do have wild blackberries in our area, however. My wife goes out each year to harvest some of them. They are much smaller and do not taste as sweet. They are also not nearly as fruitful. What takes my wife all day to harvest from wild blackberries could be harvested in five minutes from well-cultivated blackberry bushes.

In the same way, God’s pruning us, through difficulties and suffering, is for our good and His glory. Therefore, we can rejoice in it.

Jesus speaks to His followers in Luke 9:23-25, “Then he said to them all: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.  For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.  What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?’”

Part of the very definition of being a follower of Christ is that we do not follow our own desires and preferences. By choosing to follow Jesus, we are choosing (in this earthly life), to live in a way that is uncomfortable and difficult and sacrificial and selfless. This is how Jesus lived and how He asks us to live as well.

In Philippians 2:3-8 Paul exhorts us, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: ‘Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!’”

Jesus then, is to be our model. One of the reasons we are left on earth after we choose to follow Christ is in order that we can be made more like Him. A major part of being conformed to His image is us learning to emulate Him in sacrificial service and humility. In suffering, if we do it willingly and with joy, we are made more like Him and are identified with Him.

Matthew 10:34-39

“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.  For I have come to turn ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law— a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’ Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.  Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me.  Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.”

The things we are willing to sacrifice for the sake of Christ reveal where He ranks in our priorities. It demonstrates our level of commitment. Is He truly the “pearl of great price” (Matthew 13:45-46) in our estimation? Do we value Him more than any relationship and more than our own lives?

If we do, then the loss of anything for His sake will be met with pure joy because we have all we desire in Him. In Philippians 3:7-8 Paul says, “But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.  What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ.”

This means we can constantly rejoice because Christ is in us and we are in Christ. No external circumstance can change this all-important reality. As Paul says elsewhere, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39)

In fact, it is us actually suffering loss of lesser things that proves we are His. It is in dying to ourselves that we are able to live in Him. It is in seeking Him that we lose everything else, including our own lives. The result is life – eternal, abundant, and true life.