Suffering is a pervasive reality for Christians in this fallen world, encompassing physical pain, mental distress, emotional anguish, and prolonged struggles like cancer, family issues, broken relationships, unmet expectations, stress, anxiety, or ongoing battles with sin. These experiences are characterized by a perceived threat to one’s well-being and stand in direct opposition to pleasure and happiness. Our innate human desire is to escape these afflictions, yet they often feel beyond our control, impacting us mentally, emotionally, and physically.
When confronted with suffering, the natural human question is “why?” Without a meaningful answer, such experiences can lead to deeper despair, hardening hearts, and even dehumanization—stripping us of our God-given attributes like empathy, hope, and joy. Worse still, suffering can amplify sinful tendencies, making us more sensitive, bitter, skeptical, distrustful, and ugly.
A crucial step is to adopt a Christian understanding of suffering, seeking not false comfort or unrealistic narratives, but clear biblical truths. The Bible explicitly states that all humanity, believers and non-believers alike, experiences suffering. Importantly, all suffering, despite its unwelcome nature, remains under the sovereign hand of a good and righteous God.
For non-believers, suffering serves as a foretaste of eternal torment—a separation from God’s grace intended to instill fear and urge repentance. However, for Christians, suffering always carries a good and perfect godly purpose, whether immediately perceivable or not. While suffering itself—sickness, loss, or death—is not inherently good, God, being good, can bring His good out of it, a promise He extends to those He loves.
Thus, suffering is an expected part of the Christian life, a consequence of residing in a fallen world. Yet in Christ, it transforms into a path to spiritual growth and an instrument of sanctification. It also serves an eschatological purpose, instilling in us a pure and sacred hope for the Lord’s second coming, reminding us that this present life is our “worst life,” a transient state not to be clung to, and redirecting our hope toward the afterlife.
This constant, relentless suffering cultivates a deep yearning to see the Lord, where all pain will cease. This is the glorious hope Jesus desires for His bride to embrace. Maintaining purity and being untainted not only means avoiding sin but also harboring a genuine hope to encounter the Lord face to face. Just as a betrothed woman yearns for her distant beloved’s return, our hope and yearning for Christ’s final consummation demonstrate the purity of our lives.
Ultimately, all suffering is in God’s hands for His good purpose, as He works for the good of those who love Him. We can confidently conclude that any suffering we face is ordained by a loving God who died for us and intends all things for our good.
The Bible explicitly teaches that for Christians, suffering leads to glory—a profound truth often misunderstood. As stated in 2 Corinthians 4:16–17, though we are outwardly wasting away, inwardly we are being renewed day by day. This refers to physical deterioration, which for believers, unlike non-believers, fosters a greater appreciation for spiritual and eternal things, deepening our inner spiritual growth.
Our “light and momentary troubles” are achieving for us an “eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” This highlights an incomparable exchange: present afflictions are traded for an eternal weight of glory. While suffering can feel heavy and unending in the moment, in reality, our minds often get trapped, and these setbacks eventually become mere memories—sometimes even leading to gratitude.
God views our troubles as light and momentary, not to downplay our pain, but to point us toward something more glorious. This perspective helps us see His glory more clearly. We must not lose heart in trials, for God is with us, imbuing each trial with an eternal sense, preparing us for what is to come.
Romans 8:16–17 further clarifies this. The Holy Spirit assures us of our identity as God’s children, preserving us to the end. This assurance is immediately followed by a seemingly counterintuitive truth: “If we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His suffering in order that we also share in His glory.” This isn’t about earning glory, but about the path of participation in Christ’s glory.
As Christians, through our union with Christ via the Holy Spirit, we participate in everything that belongs to Him. This means we share not only in His glory but also in His sufferings. This is a point often overlooked or avoided by those who emphasize glory without acknowledging the accompanying suffering, promoting a theology where Christ suffered so we don’t have to.
The “sufferings” referred to in Romans 8:17 are not Christ’s redemptive suffering on the cross, as His personal suffering is finished, and we cannot add to it. Rather, it refers to Christ’s representative suffering. Despite His ascension and victorious seating on the throne, Christ deeply identifies with His people, feeling their afflictions as His own. Examples include Stephen seeing Jesus standing in anguish before his martyrdom, and Jesus asking Saul why he was persecuting “Me” instead of the church, signifying the unbreakable union between Christ and His believers.
This continuous identification means that when believers suffer, they are not suffering alone, but are sharing in Christ’s representative suffering for all His people. Martin Luther noted, “Christ is in all our afflictions,” suffering with us in faithful fellowship—not in pain, as His personal suffering is complete.
Christian tradition clarifies three points: first, Christ’s personal suffering on the cross is finished. Second, Christ’s compassionate participation in Christian suffering continues relationally, not redemptively. Third, Christ’s representative suffering continues through His body, the church, on earth. Therefore, the church’s suffering manifests His cross in history. We suffer in Christ, and our trials are not merely unfortunate events or opportunities for refinement, but a sharing in Christ’s own suffering.
This understanding stems from our union with Christ: our lives are in Him, so we never suffer apart from Him. Whether it’s illness, loss, persecution, or setback, Christ is with us in our suffering. This truth provides strength and consolation, enabling us to trust God even amidst trials. Romans 8 speaks to the broad reality of Christian suffering in a groaning world, encompassing hardships, famine, persecution, and even death—all of which we endure as conquerors through Christ, because sharing in His suffering guarantees sharing in His glory.
When suffering arises from our sin, it’s crucial to understand that we are not participating in Christ’s suffering; instead, we are trading suffering for temporal satisfaction or lust. If we suffer as a result of our choices, it is God’s discipline, intended to bring us back to participation in Christ’s suffering. For example, King David’s sin with Bathsheba was not glorious, but his subsequent suffering under God’s discipline was a pathway to restoration. Similarly, engaging in pornography or unforgiveness is not suffering but indulging forbidden pleasure or pride.
Discipline itself holds no inherent glory, but God reveals His glory through it by demonstrating His patience, mercy, and righteousness. Grace redeems failure, so when David humbled himself during discipline, he mirrored God’s grace, showing that even fallen individuals can be restored. This process, termed the “suffering of restoration,” is encompassed within our suffering in Christ and leads to glory. True restoration after sin requires genuine suffering.
Ultimately, discipline for believers is a divine correction for restoration, not divine punishment. Every moment of divine correction—through conviction, hardship, or inner sorrow—becomes a participation in Christ’s redemptive mercy. We are encouraged not to take discipline lightly or lose heart, as glory is found not in our sin, but in our restoration, which involves a continual battle against sin and a rejection of temporal lust and pleasure, emulating Christ’s obedience learned through suffering.
God disciplines us not only to warn against sin but also to produce the fruit of righteousness that empowers us to fight sin. Hebrews 12 states that discipline yields a “harvest of righteousness and peace,” a rich abundance of spiritual fruit that makes us unwilling to jeopardize our sense of righteousness with sin.
The journey from discipline to restoration and glorification is complex, especially when dealing with sinful, prideful individuals in complicated situations. Pride often makes it difficult to bring people to a willing suffering for Christ, as they prefer to feed their wounds and bitterness. This is frequently seen in broken human relationships, particularly in marital strife where both parties contribute to the downfall through sin, blame, and accusations, making reconciliation seem impossible.
In such marriages, while suffering is present, it is not glorious because both parties are unwilling to humble themselves and repent—to “suffer with Christ.” God, in His relentless love, intervenes by reducing them to humility. Pastoral responsibility extends beyond mere counseling; it involves bringing them to the cross to see Christ’s suffering, provoking true repentance. As James teaches, God opposes the proud but lifts up the humble.
In our human pain, we are called to be brought low, willingly suffering with Christ instead of letting sin fuel pride or self-righteousness. Strife and unresolved conflicts can be God’s tools to chasten and humble us, drawing us closer to Christ’s suffering. When we are misunderstood, we are to consider Jesus, who “endured such opposition from sinners,” so we do not lose heart.
Sharing in Christ’s suffering encompasses several facets: first, enduring life’s trials passively, understanding that we suffer not alone but in Christ due to our union with Him. Second, undergoing the suffering of restoration after sin, embracing humility that points back to the glorious spirit of redemption. Third, battling with sin by denying ourselves its pleasure and convenience, reflecting Christ’s holiness and obedience learned through suffering. Fourth, enduring opposition and injustice from sinful people, willingly suffering loss for the Gospel’s sake, which emulates Christ’s sacrificial attributes.
While these truths can be conceptual, in the midst of suffering, they often feel immensely heavy. However, even though we live in “jars of clay”—fragile earthly vessels—we must not lose heart, for there is immense spiritual value in this life.
Our Christian life, lived in a world of decay—physical, moral, and spiritual—is sustained by God’s grace. Despite the struggles, we are called to take a broad view, understanding this life in terms of the glory we will ultimately receive. When we grow weary from fighting sin and suffering, we must remember God’s loving message and His answer for our suffering.
The pathway from suffering to glory is uniquely human, as Christ Himself walked in our flesh, identifying with our suffering through His Via Dolorosa for our redemption. This means our suffering as Christians carries deep meaning. After His ascension, Christ continues to identify with us through our union, promising, “Don’t worry about your pain and suffering in this world because you are actually sharing in my suffering and you will share in my glory one day.”
This ultimate hope, catalyzed by daily suffering, fuels our yearning for final liberation from the bondage of decay. The Lord promises that this day will come, and as we share in His suffering, we will share in His glory. This is where human glory surpasses angelic splendor; angels serve God in majesty but do not suffer or experience redemption in the same way, marveling at the mystery of humans knowing God through suffering and grace.
Therefore, when the difficulties of the flesh lead us to lose heart, we must remember that such glory is uniquely human. Our light and momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond comparison. This truth sustains us, encouraging us not to lose heart in our struggles with sin and suffering, and continually pointing us to Christ’s perfection and His redeeming Spirit.
[AI-generated notes for this sermon]
