Suffering: A Biblical Paradigm for Ministry
The problem of evil is the perennial issue that plagues the human soul. Whether Christian or atheist, Muslim or agnostic, religious or non-religious, all people are faced with this problem. This problem is not new (though some people act as if it is). No era in history has been beyond its reach. No philosophical thought has escaped its grasp. In the end, everyone asks, “How can a good God allow evil to exist?” But as difficult as the problem of evil is, the reality remains that suffering still exists and everyone must face it. We can neither run, nor hide from it. Sooner or later, the big dog is going to bite, and it often bites hard.
For those without Christ, they are left without hope. Though surrounded by family and friends, they are bereft of company. A life lived without God is a life lived alone. So when serious suffering strikes, the cry of “Why me?” goes unanswered. However, for the Christian, suffering serves as spiritual formation—a means to an end. At least that was the Apostle Paul’s thinking: “For this momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Cor. 4:17). This leaves us to ask: “What does suffering reveal about the nature of the Gospel?”
Apparent Defeat, Actual Victory: Suffering in Paul’s Ministry
For Paul, suffering was a regular part of his ministry. Indeed, from the beginning, the apostle’s ministry was surrounded by suffering. But where many saw this as defeat, he saw victory. In 2 Corinthians, Paul’s apostleship was questioned by his opponents because he suffered tremendously. Surely God’s servant would be spared such suffering, they thought. However, what they did not realize was that his calling to be a minister of the New Covenant was a death sentence. In other words, Paul’s suffering did not nullify his apostleship; it validated it. How so?
First, Paul declares that his suffering was for the Corinthian’s comfort. He says, “If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer” (1:6). Paul’s suffering was so severe that it seemed as if he had been sentenced to death (1:9). Yet the purpose of his suffering was to make him rely upon God that he might know His deliverance. While his opponents argued that his suffering disqualified him as an apostle, Paul states that it is the very thing that provides others with comfort by strengthening them.
Second, Paul defended his apostolic ministry on the basis that God is made known to the world by suffering. In 2:14, Paul gives thanks to God, “who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession.” He served as the aroma of Christ to God among both the damned and saved. To the damned, it’s a fragrance of death to death; to the saved, a fragrance of life to life (2:16).
In the Roman Empire, defeated foes were taken back to Rome after great victories, and marched through the streets in “triumphal processions.” This displayed the victor’s strength over the defeated foe. However, the shocking reality was that the procession usually climaxed with the captive’s death (in this case, Paul). Scott Hafemann explains:
To be ‘led to death’ thus meant to be led to one’s death as the means of displaying the glory of the victor! Paul uses this metaphor to describe his life as an apostle, since for him ‘death’ is a symbol for his life of suffering as a whole. . . . God is to be praised for leading Paul “as a captive to death in a Roman triumphal procession” since this is the means of spreading the “fragrance of the knowledge of God everywhere” [1].
Therefore, Paul’s suffering was the means by which the Gospel was made known both to believer and unbeliever alike. Everyone smells the fragrance, thus Paul was fulfilling his apostolic mission. That’s why he says elsewhere, “I die everyday” (1 Cor. 15:31).
Third, Paul’s suffering was a source of encouragement because it exemplified Christ’s ministry. Paul’s body was merely an earthen vessel, as frail as a jar of clay, in which treasure lay (4:7). Yet this was the very means by which God’s glory manifested itself. Whereas Paul had been driven to the point of death (1:8), he had not been driven to despair (4:8). “For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh,” says Paul (4:11). As the body was killed—the clay jar broken—the treasure of Christ’s resurrection was revealed!
Still, Paul did not see this as a reason to seek out suffering. Suffering in and of itself was never a source of strength, but was only a means by which Paul ministered (or mediated) the New Covenant. This was done “not by ink, but by the Spirit of the living God” (3:3). Hence, the Spirit’s work of changing hearts was Paul’s confirmation that the New Covenant was being established through him and was also the source of his spiritual renewal. Consequently, suffering gives way to joy. As Hafemann states, “Our suffering consequently becomes a source of encouragement to our faith, since those who share in Christ’s sufferings know that they will also share in his resurrection” [2]. Paul rejoiced in his suffering because he understood that the Spirit was not only at work in others’ lives, but also within himself.
Finally, Paul’s suffering from his thorn in the flesh was God’s display of grace. Three times Paul pleaded with the Lord to remove it. Instead, God allowed it to remain so that Paul would not become conceited. God tells Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (12:9). This gave him reason to boast not in his strength, but in his weakness, because Christ’s power rested upon him. As a result, he gladly welcomed hardship and persecution if it meant receiving such grace. Paul’s apparent defeat was actually victory.
Suffering and Christian Ministry
For Christians, Paul’s life reveals the nature of Christian ministry. Like Paul, we are ministers of the New Covenant. This means that we will experience suffering to some degree in various ways and circumstances. For some Christians, the call of faith will require facing the persecution of death, like Paul. For others, it means that we will suffer to a different degree, whether economic hardship, government restraint, or some form of cultural marginalization. Gospel faithfulness means that we may suffer financial loss for leaving an occupation that keeps us from serving our local church and participating in its congregational life. This means we may suffer marginalization from our families for evangelizing them, or difficulty at work for telling a coworker about the Gospel. Whatever the case, Christians must expect to face some form of hardship in ministry, apart from the normal difficulties of life in a fallen world. As Paul’s opponents questioned God’s work in his own ministry, we too will face that question, either from others or ourselves. We may ask, “How could God work in the midst of such pain, hardship, and calamity?” What we must remember, however, is that Christian ministry is constantly confronted by such adversity. Paul’s life testifies to that.
Paul’s hardship will be a wake-up call for many. The glamorization of Christian ministry, particularly pastoral ministry, will be exposed for the lie it is. The call to Christian ministry is a call to humiliate our self and serve others. This does not mean that suffering and hardship will necessarily result in small churches or weak ministries. Quite the contrary, Christianity often flourishes under dire restraints. But we should not be surprised that hardship occurs as growth occurs. As Jesus’ ministry grew, so did the inevitable suffering of the cross. As Paul’s ministry grew, so did the anxiety and hardship that he experienced as a result of ministering to his churches. This paradigm for ministry actually makes the mega-church an oddity, if anything. However, the temptation of the “success syndrome” will be a constant battle as we face opposition and difficulty in ministry [3].
Suffering should not give way to complaint, but to rejoicing. A life characterized by suffering, hardship, and calamity in Gospel ministry is not one to lament. Rather, it plunges us deeper into the depths of God’s grace so that we can know the magnitude of His love, presence, and strength all the more. If there is anything we should learn from Paul’s life, it is this. Though we suffer hardship, we have the utmost assurance that the Gospel will move forward as we serve Christ faithfully. Let us therefore not grow weary of the task before us, but, instead, let us move forward, serving God faithfully as people marching toward Zion.
_______________________________________
[1] Scott Hafemann, God of Promise, Life of Faith: Understanding the Heart of the Bible (Wheaton: Crossway, 2001), 162. However, other interpreters argue that the triumphal procession depicts God as the victor, Christ as his general, and Paul as his captive who now gladly follows him.
[2] Ibid., 151.
[3] I am not proposing that mega-churches are wrong or are not of God. Rather, they are not the norm. Christians should not judge their church’s health by its apparent success, but rather by the norms we find in Scripture. In fact, for Christians in larger churches, this will be very difficult because Christians are tempted to perceive success in terms of numerical growth and programmatic structures rather than faithfulness and fruitfulness. In other words, what does “biblical success” look like? Certainly this involves numerical growth at times, but is not the only defining measure. We should evaluate our ministries from what seems prevalent in Paul’s life (and Jesus’), not others around us.
Recent Comments