Love In Suffering

Rom 8:32-33 “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all — how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”

Our God is a generous God.  He wants to lavish His love on His children.  How much does He love us if He didn’t spare His own Son for our sake? 

We tend to think in selfish terms.  We have a laundry list of things that we want Him to give us or to do for us.  We are like children who when they don’t get their way throw a temper tantrum and complain that their parents don’t love them. If we approach Him with this mindset we will miss all that He actually gives us.

Try this experiment. Keep a notebook handy and starting tomorrow when you wake up write down everything that God does for you.  Did you wake up? Did you have a roof over your head? Did you have clean clothes to put on? Did you have food for breakfast?  On and on write down everything that God has provided for you.  Pretty soon you will get tired of writing down everything that you should be thankful for and yet, all we focus on is what we don’t have.

Rom 8:35-36
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?

It is a great comfort that Christ protects us from external threats.  His love for us is unconditional. While outward circumstances may seem to suggest that He doesn’t care or that He has abandoned us, it is not true.  He is there to sustain us, to support us, to give us the power, through His Holy Spirit to be overcomers

Luke 9:23 "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”

Christ never promised us a bed of roses.  His call is one of sacrifice and suffering for His name’s sake.  It is to endure while in this shell as we wait for the day when we will be raised up with Him to an eternity of joy in His presence.  We want our happiness now but He never promised us that.  What He did promise was joy.  Joy is not dependent on external circumstances the way happiness is. We tent to get the two confused. Consider Paul’s calling after he got knocked of his horse.

Acts 9:15-16  ”But the Lord said to Ananias, "Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel.  I will show him how much he must suffer for my name." 

I can remember going to lunch with John Paul Jackson who has been blessed with the gift of prophecy.  We were talking about the prophetic groupies who go from service to service looking for a word from God. He said that they always want more details. Then he said that when God gives more details it usually is because they will be needed to sustain the person because of the high cost of the calling.  The more challenging the call, the more power is released through the Holy Spirit.  Think about it.  How much grace and power do you really need to live a suburban lifestyle?  It is only when we step out of our comfort zone and take up our cross to fully follow Him that we need more of His manifest presence.

Think about Stephen.  Here he was called to be a deacon whom in the early church meant that he was a glorified waiter charged with making sure that the widows and orphans received their fair share of food.

Acts 6:2-4 “So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, "It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables.  Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word."

So in tune was the early church to God’s purpose that the key requirement to wait on tables was to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. The fact that he was chosen for this seemingly menial task did not limit Stephen who in his role as a waiter did many wonders and miraculous signs (v. 8). So much so that he was brought to trial before the Sanhedrin for his efforts.  Then he proceeds to preach the longest most detailed sermon recorded in the New Testament.  For quoting the Scriptures to the Rabbi’s he was sentenced to die by stoning.  As he was being sentenced the Bible tells us that:

Acts 7:55-56  “Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.  "Look," he said, "I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God."

God gave him just what He needed at the right time to endure his martyrdom by stoning. Even as He suffered this horribly painful death, the love of Christ sustained him.

God gives us everything we need just when we need it.

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