I was reading in the Book of Acts about Paul’s godly
determination to go to Jerusalem even though he knew he would suffer. There
is something about the power of God that is unleashed in suffering that reveals
the real nature of its strength. It
is related to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who was to be handed over to
men, to be killed and having died to rise on the third day. Now, that is power and is the same kind of
power that turns the world upside down. Suffering
because of Christ releases power, a different kind of authority manifest in
letting go of our control, taking the last place and becoming the servant of
all.
My friend at Regent Derek Mutunga reminds me of how this
power works. Somehow when he left to
return to Zambia I knew in the core of my being that somehow the future of my
grandchildren once again lay in the hands of an African. There was time when North Africa was the
heartland of Christianity. Did you know
that? Yes, Origen, Athanasius and
Augustine were all Africans. Origen was
the great Christian scholar, Athanasius the defender of the Trinity and
Augustine the greatest theologian of the first few centuries. Three of the greatest theologians of the
foundational years were Africans.
In the 1990’s I had a sense that
American was being overrun by pagan hordes in sport coats and carrying lap
tops. When Derek prepared to complete
his master in theology I pray a blessing upon his ministry that he and others
like him might be used by God to turn Africa into the next Christian continent
so that Christianity would thrive as a viable faith for my grandchildren and great
grandchildren if the Lord Jesus doesn’t come back first. Zambia
and much of Africa is filled with suffering but it is suffering which has
caused the ministry of Jesus Christ to flourish in people like Derek
ministering among the poor always in the face of threat of a growing Islamic
presence. Derek and Gladys former communists
came to Christ through the ministry of Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship and were
discipled by John Stott to serve Jesus in his grand plan to further the gospel
in hope that one day Christ will draw Africa to himself. He returned to his homeland to proclaim the
only sacrifice for sins Jesus Christ and to share in his sufferings. Christ
will win out through rising up his people through great suffering.
This was
a lesson that was central to the training of the twelve. It is not greatness, it is not control, it is
not power, or prestige that makes the Church great. It is sharing in the suffering of Christ which
sets the stage for the powerful dynamic of the Church. Not only does the cross of Christ provide the
one and only sacrifice for sin; the final work of God on our behalf for our salvation. But the cross is also the pattern of
discipleship. The twelve could not
fathom that the Lord and Messiah was also the suffering servant who would bear
our sin and take our punishment. They
would understand only when Peter was crucified upside down and Paul was in jail
that there is power of the cross in suffering.
Not that our suffering has any atoning power. But we died to sin that we can live to God
and this takes the form of suffering stripping us our self-life so that our
life might be hid with God in Jesus Christ. We die in order to really
live. We put ourselves last and serve
others, we serve Jesus Christ by caring for our brother and sisters in the
suffering Church. In America we are on
the verge of learning the reality of the cross as the seed bed of
resurrection. We are surrounded by a burgeoning Church that
is facing persecution of proportions perhaps of the greatest proportion
ever. It is beginning to knock on our
door. But we are not to turn to
self-pity for if we put ourselves behind the needs of the hurting world we are
told we will be first.
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