He keeps predicting it, and his disciples keep missing the point and disbelieving him. Why was it necessary that Jesus suffer and die, before entering into his kingly glory? It was necessary for one reason, and for one reason only—our sin. Sin is deadly serious and, to my mind, the convincing proof of this is that Jesus had to die on the cross.
1. The necessity of Jesus’ death
When a doctor sees a patient with a small bleeding mole and sends him immediately to the operating table, it becomes clear how dire the situation is—a malignant melanoma. You really know how serious a problem is when you see how serious the solution is. In the same way, we sometimes look at our lives and notice a few minor problems here and there, a few symptoms of sin, but nothing to write home about.
It is not until we recall that to deal with our sin God sent his only son to die on the cross, that we see ourselves in a proper light. The Lord of this creation became a man, suffered and died, because of my sin. It is not as if you could just cut out that malignant mole on your own back using the bathroom mirror to help.
You needed the death of Jesus to put you right with God.
The Joy and Suffering of Christian Ministry | Dr. Paul T. P. Wong's Autobiography
Do you know this? Do you understand how much God loves you and how much it cost him to put you right with him? If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Being a Christian means dying to ourselves and our own ambitions, and living to Christ.
The Ministry Of Suffering
It means being a person who stands up for the gospel, as a servant of the gospel. Time and again, by both word and example, Jesus and the New Testament writers warn of how much suffering and difficulty will be involved for anyone who is to be a gospel minister. And how could it be otherwise? Our own Lord was crucified. Could we expect any better treatment than him? As Paul teaches again and again in his letters, we died with Christ. When you first become a Christian, everything seems so obvious—the gospel is going to win the world, we just need to trust it and get on with the job.
The gospel really is lifechanging. But this confidence needs to be tempered by the knowledge that every step of any victory that God chooses to give us will come at immense personal cost. And if your ministry is going to be worth anything at all, you too will pay the price. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
- The Role of Suffering in the Mission of Paul and the Mission of the Church.
- 2. Share in his sufferings.
- Health, Prosperity, and Longevity For You, Your Family and Your Pets?
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you Matt 5: My wife and I have known some of the sufferings of ministry—in our relationships, in opposition from those we thought were in fellowship with us, financial and health struggles. But we can also see that it has been well and truly worth it, for the joy of seeing the gospel at work wherever we have been serving the Lord. But something else has driven us on.
Along with Romans 8: Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. Suffering now, glory later. Because we are really trying to describe the nature of heaven, and eternal life with Christ. His character was always like a piece of pure, unalloyed gold, but it shone with a brighter lustre at the last, because it had been submitted to the friction of pain and sorrow.
The Joy and Suffering of Christian Ministry (Autobiography, Ch. 19)
The perfection of sympathy. One thing necessary to the exercise of true sympathy is the power to forget self. Selfishness must sink before sympathy can rise. Another thing necessary is the personal knowledge of sorrow. Suffering to be a blessing, must be rightly borne. In the temper in which we submit to it depends whether it is to be the angel that sweetens or the demon that sours us. There is much unreality often about the best of men. In speech and action we are not always true. There is often a smattering of half-unconscious, half-wilful misrepresentation about our conduct.
- Upcoming Gathering?
- The Ministry Of Suffering Sermon by Russell Brownworth, 1 Peter - theranchhands.com?
- ZETTAI GOKAKU EBOOK (Japanese Edition)!
- Experimental Research.
- The Ministry of Suffering | Jim Erwin.
- Carol.
We sometimes deceive ourselves, and sometimes half-unwittingly try to deceive our God. The ministry of suffering strips us of all this.