The Holy Spirit & Suffering (viii)

I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.

Acts 20:23-24

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.

I Thess.1:6

How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!

Heb.9:14

The emotional life of Jesus is part of His incarnation, part of the authenticity of His humanity. But un-numbed by sin, His capacity to feel is qualitatively different from ours. Even the richest aspects of what we call our emotional life is a flattened and impoverished compared to the depth and vigour of what is felt by Christ. This takes a sobering turn when we consider that Jesus is a man of suffering, and familiar with pain (Is.53:3).

As we have done several times in these studies, we remember that Jesus is the Christ, the One supremely anointed by the Holy Spirit. As such He endured His suffering in the context of the joy of the Spirit (see e.g. Lk.10:21; it may also be part of what lay behind the accusations of Lk.7:34; Gal.5:22). Warfield speaks of Jesus as having thus ‘sounded the ultimate depths of human anguish’, an anguish that assailed Him at every level of His humanity. Yet His suffering never became an excuse for anger at His Father, nor doubt, nor disobedience. But for our purposes in this study, it is sufficient to note the connection between His suffering and the presence of His Holy Spirit. We can observe this at a general level, in that everything Jesus experiences as a human He does so in relationship with the Spirit; but more specifically we see that it is the Spirit who both exposes Jesus to suffering and sustains Him in it. It is the Spirit who leads Jesus in to the wilderness to face the suffering of deprivation and temptation (Lk.4:1-2); it was precisely because of His Spirit-enabled ministry that He evoked such hostility, and faced persecution (Lk.4:18); and ultimately, the Spirit who has exposed Him to, and sustained Him in the midst of suffering in life, is present exposing Him to and sustaining Him in His suffering of death (Heb.9:14). We mustn’t imagine this relating strictly to the cross, but as incorporating His Passion as well. The Spirit is undergirding the finite humanity of Jesus throughout His suffering: ‘In the difficult hours of Gethsemane and all the decisive moments leading to the cross, the Holy Spirit faithfully ministered to Christ’ (Walvoord, The Holy Spirit, 100-101).

Just as Jesus promised the “Comforter” to his disciples, we find the Spirit sustaining, strengthening, and comforting Jesus to and through the cross. This has direct bearing on us. As we have noticed, Jesus promised the same Spirit to us. And with Him will come the same division from the world (Jn.14:14), and the same exposure to and sustaining in the midst of suffering as we testify to Christ (Jn.15:18 & 26, Prov.29:10; I Jn.3:12-13). Jesus’ promise is not that the Spirit will protect us from suffering, but that in the midst of persecution and hostility, He will enable us to remain faithful to Christ, and to bear witness to Him (Lk.12:11-12).

This seems to be borne out by the experience of the Church in the Book of Acts. It’s strange how often we talk about the Church in Acts as ‘Spirit-filled’, or ‘Pentecostal’ and harbour a desire to ‘go back to the experience of the Early Church’, but somehow don’t acknowledge the persecution and suffering that litter the Church’s experience throughout that time (Acts 4; 5; 7; 8; 9; 12; 13; 14; 16; 17; 18; 19; 21-23). It is hardly an accident that Stephen is singled out and presented to us as ‘a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit’ immediately prior to his martyrdom (Acts 6:5 & 9-10; 7:54-60).

None of this was seen as outside of the will or knowledge of God, and the Church isn’t represented as seeing this as a theological conundrum to be negotiated (quite the opposite, see Acts 4:24-28). Rather they saw it as a privilege and an honour to suffer for the Name of Christ (e.g. Acts 5:41); they worshipped God in the midst of such suffering (Acts 16:25); and refuse to allow (the prospect of) such suffering to silence their proclamation of the Gospel (Acts 14:22). Such an attitude demands an explanation that transcends merely human categories. Perhaps this is why the Church Father, Tertullian exclaimed, ‘The man (sic) who is afraid to suffer cannot belong to Him who suffered’ (see Rom.8:17).

Questions

Do you think Tertullian is right (see above)?

Do you think ‘suffering’ presents a theological problem for Christians? Why / why not? How would you answer the question of why God allows suffering?

Read I Peter 4:1-2 & 12-19

What is the ‘same attitude’ Peter is speaking about in I Pet.4:1? How can we arm ourselves with it?

How does Peter think our suffering impacts our growth in Christlikeness (v.2)? How does this work? It is often suggested that God values our holiness above our happiness. Do you agree? How does your life reflect this?

Do you think suffering for Christ should be ‘the norm’ (v.12)? If so, how would you explain the British Church’s lack of such a ‘fiery ordeal’? Can you think of teaching from Jesus Peter might have in mind in writing these verses?

Is Peter advocating a kind of spiritual masochism? How are we supposed to ‘rejoice’ (v.13) in the midst of suffering? Why might we be tempted to feel ashamed (v.16)?

I Peter 3:17 has already taught us that it can be God’s will that we suffer. He reiterates the point here in 4:19. How do you think we can discern when our suffering is God’s will and when it isn’t? How would ascertaining this change our approach to and experience of suffering … if at all?

In this passage, and from your knowledge of the Scriptures more generally, why do you think God would expose us to suffering? What might be His purpose in our suffering? Does this mean we should seek suffering?

In what sense can Christians still expect to be subject to judgement (v.17)? How does this shape our response to suffering in the cause of Christ?

Memory Passage:

But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened.” But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behaviour in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.

I Peter 3:14-18

For further reflection:

Do Christians have to suffer in the cause of the Gospel? In 1684 John Bunyan (of ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’ fame) wrote a booklet called Advice to Sufferers, in which he addresses the question:

Thou mayest do in this as it is in thy heart. If it is in thy heart to fly, fly: if it be in thy heart to stand, stand. Anything but a denial of the truth. He that flies, has warrant to do so; he that stands, has warrant to do so. Yea, the same man may both fly and stand, as the call and working of God with his heart may be. Moses fled (Ex.2:15); Moses stood (Heb.11:27). David fled (1 Sam.19:12); David stood (1 Sam.24:8). Jeremiah fled (Jer.37:11-12); Jeremiah stood (Jer.38:17). Christ withdrew himself (Luke 19:10); Christ stood (John 18:1-8). Paul fled (2 Cor.11:33); Paul stood (Acts 20:22-23)... There are few rules in this case. The man himself is best able to judge concerning his present strength, and what weight this or that argument has upon his heart to stand or fly. . . Do not fly out of a slavish fear, but rather because flying is an ordinance of God, opening a door for the escape of some, which door is opened by God's providence, and the escape countenanced by God's Word (Matt.10:23).

Yet, perhaps nothing exposes the poverty of our experience of the Holy Spirit so much as our unwillingness, perhaps even our incapacity, to suffer in the cause of Christ. There is no such thing as noble suffering. We should not glamourize suffering, but nor should we fear it, or see it as a mark of defeat. In fact, the defeat is seen precisely in our fear, and in our unwillingness to suffer.