To our Members and Friends,            

When time comes to send out the monthly calendar, I pray, “Lord, what shall I say this time?”  Since I am in the process this morning of preparing for our small group study of 1 Thessalonians for tonight’s meeting, let me pass on some of the thoughts for that discussion.  The topic is very relevant to the Christian life, that of “Suffering.” 

We tend to think in the West that since we have not been outwardly persecuted for our faith, we have not suffered suffering.  That is not true.  If you are walking with Christ, you feel it! 

“You Were Destined for This” 

Every church in the New Testament was a suffering church.  Jesus had made it quite clear that this would be the situation.  So every church was also a community that had been prepared for this certainty.  Thessalonica was typical: “You were destined for these afflictions,” Paul said.  “When we were with you, we kept telling you beforehand that we were to suffer affliction, just as it has come to pass, and just as you know” (1 Thess. 3:3,4). 

The word suffer means in its most basic sense “the feeling of the experience of pain.”  Suffering is what we feel in the midst of painful agonies and intense struggles.  To be trained in the Christian faith, we must understand “pathology,” a “theology of suffering.” 

Consider the Source of the pain. 

When the source is from those who hate God and us, this outward stress is frequently referred to as persecution.  The word signifies to pursue or hunt down (usually with malicious intent for harm).  “For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. (Gal 1:13, cf. 1 Cor. 15:9; Phil. 3:6,12,14)  

When the source of the pain is more internal, originating from strong, unholy desires within, this describes temptation.  “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God,’ for God cannot be tempted with evil, and He Himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.” (James 1:13,14)  The Greek word in this case is based on a root that means “testing by fire.”  

When the source of the feeling comes from worldly influences, largely from without, and the pressure to give up the struggle and discontinue the endurance, the Bible frequently uses the word affliction or tribulation.  It describes a constant resistance to the motions of godliness. “For even when we came into Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were afflicted at every turn - fighting without and fear within.” (2Co 7:5; cf. Rom. 5:3; John 16:33)  

Note, however, that all three of these experiences cause suffering, and that feeling of pain can be physical or emotional.  Yet there is something else. There is an experience referred to as “suffering with.” 

This is what Paul is describing in first chapters of 1 Thessalonians.  When you love someone, you would rather suffer instead of them.  You would be happy to take their place.  Think of passages in the New Testament when a parent comes to Jesus, “Lord, help my son or daughter.”  (Mark 5:23; 7:26)  Seeing a loved one suffer causes you to suffer with them.  And that can be more painful than suffering yourself, alone.  Yet, this also God has ordained according to spiritual pathology.  “That I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings (the “fellowship of His sufferings,” Phi 3:10). 

Think of the Christ-focus here.  He is the One Who suffered (alone), Who suffered for us (in our place), and Who still suffers with us.  And we are called to suffer with Him. “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps” (1Pe 2:21).  “Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing” (1Pe 3:9).  “And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you” (1Pe 5:10).  

When we follow this divine calling as His disciples, some of that suffering will be “with others.”  In this we are called to rejoice. 

I hope that the enclosed calendar highlights some of Christ’s work that encourages you and that you are participating in.  Thank you all for the manner in which you have embraced the call to live out the gospel together.  It is amazing indeed that God presents us with the joy-producing possibility of being “pleasing to Him” (2 Cor. 5:9; Heb. 11:5, 6: Col. 1:10).