Thursday, December 27, 2012

#14 Suffering: the Ugly Side of Faith (3 of 3)

Suffering by Association
2) help others do the works of faith
Kawaihae Harbor-photo credit Clever Smyth 2012
Christians suffer according to our association with the Triune God [See: #14 Suffering: the Ugly Side of Faith (1 of 3) and (2 of 3)].

While we might suffer in our spirit or soul, bodily suffering is difficult. Thus, we are asked to “arm” ourselves with the same mind that Jesus had when he physically suffered. This mind (ĕnnŏia, en’-noy-ah, thinking that expresses purpose, intent, and moral understanding) is what helped Jesus endure his sufferings. Therefore, the changed mind is crucial for Christians who suffer greatly in their physical body: 

·        “Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God” (1 Peter 4:1, 2). 

·        Therefore, since Christ pathō experienced painful sensations for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same ĕnnŏia thinking that expresses purpose, intent, and moral understanding, for he who has pathō experienced painful sensations in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. 

Physical suffering connects us to God and indicates we have stopped sinning! Thus, we live according to God’s will and not to our lusts. The exception is the innocents who are pure yet still suffer. Without sin, they beam forth God’s will through their peaceful, trusting behavior while we who remain in our lusts are puzzled, wracked with helplessness, and burdened with guilt.  

This Christmas and New Year, may all Christians who suffer—in spirit, soul, or body—by association with the Trinity, receive the reality of Christ’s abounding consolation as our own, “For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ” (2 Cor. 1: 5).

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Scripture quotations from New King James Version (NKJV); Greek definitions from Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible and Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words.

Monday, December 17, 2012

#14 Suffering: the Ugly Side of Faith (2 of 3)

Suffering by Association
2) help others do the works of faith
photo credit: Dean Williams 2012
Christians of faith undergo suffering (pathēma, hardship, pain) because we share a connection to three Persons.

The first is to the Holy Spirit, who operates within the churches [See blog #14 Suffering: the Ugly Side of Faith (1 of 3)].

The second is due to our relationship with Christ. We are meant to share in his sufferings now that we might rejoice in his glory later:

·        “…rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy” (1 Peter 4:13). 

·        …rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s pathēma hardship or pain, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. 

This type of suffering relates to the fiery trials visited upon the soul. We are reproached, criticized, blamed, rebuked, and censured in Christ’s name. We undergo and endure mental/emotional suffering that must come because we are Christ’s own (1 Peter 4:12-17). 

As the soul is baptized by fire, the ego is confronted with a choice—much like the choice Adam and Eve were confronted with in the Garden—to choose either 1) God’s way, or 2) the self’s. 

If the distressed soul commits itself to God, then it enters into a shared victory with Christ in a different Garden, “…yet not my will, but yours be done” (1 Peter 4:19; Luke 22:42 NIV). 

These sufferings help us to lose our soul-life in order to save it (Mark 8:35).
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Scripture quotations from New International Version (NIV); otherwise, Scriptures from the King James Version of the bible. Greek definitions from Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible and Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words.

 

Monday, December 10, 2012

# 14 - Suffering: the Ugly Side of Faith (1 of 3)

Suffering by Association

2) help others do the works of faith

 
photo credit to: Dean Williams 2012
Most Christians suffer in our spirit, our souls, and/or our physical bodies. Yet, we are luckier than the world because we can access all the tools of faith—like prayer, laying on of hands, and working of miracles—to receive healing for ourselves. Even so “suffering”—defined in the Greek as pathēma (path’-ay-mah) hardship or pain—does not end. Why is that?

For Christians of faith, our sufferings are connected to three Persons. The first is to the Holy Spirit operating within the churches:

·  For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body…and have all been made to drink into one Spirit…And if one member suffers (pathō, path’-o) all the members suffer (sumpaschō, soom-pas’-kho) with it… (1 Cor.12:13, 26).

·  For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body…and have all been made to drink into one Spirit…And if one member experiences a painful sensation, all the members experience pain jointly or of the same kind with it…

In our suffering, the one Spirit allows others in the body of Christ to suffer (sumpaschō) experience united pain with us! Thus, the Spirit guarantees that in the body of Christ, we do not suffer alone.

In addition, when Christians pray the prayer of faith (James 5:13-16), a few of us may even experience the bodily (sōmatikŏs) symptoms of those we’re praying for.

Suffering by association benefits our spirit as we begin to learn what it truly means to be “one body” by one Spirit.

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Scripture quotations from New King James Version (NKJV);

Greek definitions from Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (Riverside Book and Bible House, Iowa Falls, Iowa 50126); and

W. E. Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (Fleming H. Revell Company, Old Tappan, New Jersey, 1981).