Endure Hardship As A Good Soldier of Christ Jesus

I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” [John16:33] 

If there is anything we all do not like, it is suffering. No one ever votes for it and only a few people wish it even on their worst enemies. But reality is, we were born into a world which is full of suffering and pain and we are not in control of what happens to us or what happens to our loved ones. We may try to control our pain by using medication [thank God for medication and science], exercise or by ignoring the pain. These may work but only for a while but they cannot take away the greatest pain which awaits unregenerate people. Then there is emotional pain which we can also try to mitigate up to a certain level but that pain is really part of our lives. No one ever invites pain and some think it is a “negative” thing to teach about what the Bible teaches about pain and suffering. I was once told that I preached a gospel of poverty because people do not want to be told that earthly riches are bad masters. 

One thing I have noticed which is especially made clear in wisdom literature is that “… the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all” [Ecclesiastes 9:11]. I have also seen that what happens to the righteous may also happen to the wicked. “The cords of death encompassed me; the torrents of destruction assailed me; the cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me” [Psalm 18:4-5] and the preacher observed, “But all this I laid to heart, examining it all, how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God. Whether it is love or hate, man does not know; both are before him. It is the same for all, since the same event happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As the good one is, so is the sinner, and he who swears is as he who shuns an oath. [Ecclesiastes 9:1]. 

Now God is not unjust and He will not leave Hs people to the same fate as that of the wicked. He makes a distinction for His people. We can see from Psalm 18 that the Lord answers the prayers of the righteous [Psalm 19:3] and that He does not hear the cry of the wicked [Psalm 18:41]. So, though we do not know the exact reasons the Lord in whose hand we are allows or causes hard things to happen to His children, we can rest in the fact that He is God, all-wise, all-knowing and that He has a perfect plan. This is what it means least for those who have put their trust in Jesus. We know that when bad things happen to a believer, they happen for his good [Romans 8:28] and the good is usually not apparent and we may be tempted to fret but the Lord will give grace to the humble [James 4:6]. The opposite of that is true also that when bad things happen to one who does not trust in Jesus, God works all those things work for their bad [Romans 8:28]. In other words, riches and wealth work for the bad of the wicked as does poverty, sickness, rain, sunshine, a good education, the acquisition of land and a fat bank account. The Lord will ask the wicked, where did you think the warmth of the sun which you enjoyed came from? What about the rain I caused to fall on your crop the year you got a bumper harvest; do you think it was from your goodness? The Lord will require an accounting because “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” [Psalm 19:1] yet people continue to ignore Him. 

So here a few things a believer may experience and the reasons behind some of our suffering. The list is obviously not exhaustive but we can at least see what the Bible teaches about our present suffering.

 

Suffering and humility are the marks of a true Christian. Suffering can humble us to such a place where we can only look to God and cry, “Be merciful to me Lord, I am a sinner”.  Do not be deceived by those who teach that there is no more suffering when you come to Christ. God’s Son was crucified on that gory cross and suffered yet He was the only perfect human being to ever live on this planet. The Lord saves those who are His. 

God allows suffering so that we can learn to depend on God and trust that He will fight all our battles. Paul writes the Corinthians and says, “For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and He will deliver us. On Him we have set our hope that He will deliver us again” [2 Corinthians 1:8]. Now these are not easy experiences that Paul and them had. They became desperate and felt that they had received a death sentence, yet they put their hope in God who raises the dead and not only that, they also got to know God’s purpose for their suffering; to make them “rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead” he wrote. Down goes self-reliance right to the drain. We have many examples of suffering saints and it is unfortunate that the church is not willing to learn from those who went through these trials. They say it is negative thinking which attracts bad things. But God gave us His word so that through it we may wage a good fight of faith.

From as far back as Genesis, we see God wanting us to trust and have faith in Him. Adam and Eve started on a clean slate and all they were required to do was to keep the word of God to not eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because God had promised they would die if they disobeyed and rebelled against that word. It is not because they were tempted by hunger, poverty, sickness and disease that they rebelled against God; everything was good in their lives. And it is not because they did not have time with God either; the Lord would visit them in the coolness of the day [Genesis 3:8] and commune with them. They did not trust the word of the Lord to be true and they lacked faith. They had more pleasure in disobeying God than to trust in Him. What happened to them shows that even in the most pleasant of circumstances, people will still sin and rebel against God. suffering however, has a way of bringing people back to God. “Before I was afflicted I went astray; but now I have kept Your Word” [Psalm 119:67]. So, affliction has been designed by God for His children to make us keep His word. God wants to challenge our faith and develop our character [Romans 5:3-5]. God’s hand has to be seen in our lives through our transformed lives and without these challenges our faith will remain stagnant.

While material prosperity is good and we all need it, it must be used always in service to other people and for the advancement of the kingdom of God. When prosperity masters an individual, it has the tendency to pull him away from God and become proud and forgetful of grace. Just look at how pompous some people are when their earthly riches increase; these people are not given to us as examples to follow. The Lord said to His people, “I spoke to you in your prosperity, but you said, ‘I will not listen.’ This has been your way from your youth, that you have not obeyed My voice” [Jeremiah 22:21] and we can understand David when he said, “It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes” [Psalm 119:71]. Blessed are those who are faithful who have material possessions and are financially well to do but do not put their trust in them but in God.

Talking about Saul to Ananias, the Lord said, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine to carry My name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.  For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of My name” [Acts 9:16]. It seems that God delights in bringing glory to His name by means of trials in our lives. Isn’t this the purpose of our being to bring glory to God? “Fear nor, for I am with you … everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made” [Isaiah 43:6-7, see also Isaiah 43:21, 48:11, Ephesians 1:6, 1 Peter 2:9 et, all]. We see the very same thing in the lives of people like Joseph, Job, David and any others. Had David not gone through the suffering experiences where he was hated without cause, accused of things he hadn’t done, slandered; if traps were not laid before him, we would not have the book of Psalms that show us to faithfulness of God who was the Shepherd of his life [Psalm 23]. 

“And He humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD” [Deuteronomy 8:3]. From this we can see that suffering is one of God’s ways of dealing with our pride. Pride blinds us from seeing His hand in our lives and we become ingrates yet God is the one who has supplied everything we need. I often hear preachers talk about the millions of dollars they have accrued as well as the number of cars and houses they have and tell their audiences that it is not from the tithes of the church that they got all those riches themselves. Isn’t that pride? What kind of work do they do and what kind of businesses do they run that they have so much wealth? Believe me brothers, I am not jealous of them neither do I covet what they have. What I see in them is discontentment and competition. But Paul the apostle of the Lord with great humility saw the undeserved favor and said of himself, “… I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me” [1 Corinthians 15:9-10]. This is coming from the man who suffered much for the sake of Jesus, successfully entered the door to get the gospel to the gentiles and reached out to kings and governors and those in authority.

The writer to Hebrews makes it clear that if we are legitimate children of God, then we have to be disciplined by the Father. For as long as we are suffering for the sake of God, then we have to be of good cheer and endure as soldiers of Christ. It may surprise you but suffering is also one of the signs to show that you are a true child of God. “And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by Him. For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and chastises every son whom He receives.” [Hebrews 12:5]. None of God’s children is exempt from this discipline; He chastises every son whom He loves. Now, it is unloving for a father to not chastise his children. In fact, except for the grace of God, a father will have issued a death sentence to his child if he does not discipline his son. David did not chastise his son Adonijah and we can see his end [2 Kings 2]. “His father had never at any time displeased him by asking, “Why have you done thus and so?” He was also a very handsome man, and he was born next after Absalom” [1 Kings 1:6]

The Bible is not a book of suggestions but a life book. It contains the mind and will of God and instructions on how we should live and apply ourselves to the will of God and the instructions He has given. Paul gives a command to Timothy his protégé saying, “Endure suffering with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus” [2 Timothy 2:3, NLT]. He is taking suffering as a given that there will be hardship if one is a soldier of Christ Jesus and he does not hide it from Timothy. There are no hidden clauses in this agreement; all terms and conditions apply. The Christian life is a fighting life and winners, soldiers and athletes, and farmers in Christ do not entangle themselves with earthly things but endure to the end to receive an incorruptible crown [1 Corinthians 9:25]. The servant of God should therefore be prepared to suffer and to be hated by people. Be content with being a servant of Christ knowing that it is better to be rejected and be treated badly by the people around you than to sinfully have their good opinion and favor. I would rather please the one who called me than please man, “For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? or am I striving to please men? if I were still pleasing men, I should not be a servant of Christ” [Galatians 1:10].

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About The Author:

Pastor Sam Machacka is co-founder of Brink Ministries Southern Africa. A wonderful colleague and good friend. Equipping Pastors and Church leaders in Southern Africa. He grew up in Harare, Zimbabwe with his beautiful wife Mildred and they are blessed with three lovely children namely Samantha, Munashe and Joshua but they are now serving as missionaries in Malawi since August 2018

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