Ephesians 3:13
The Pulpit of Pain
One time a New Yorker was driving through Texas when he collided with a truck carrying a horse. A few months later he tried to collect damages for his injuries. The insurance company’s lawyer asked him, "How can you now claim to have all these injuries? According to the police report, at the time you said you were not hurt." The New Yorker said, “Look, all I know was that I was lying on the road in a lot of pain, and I heard someone say the horse had a broken leg. The next thing I know this Texas Ranger pulls out his gun and shoots the horse. Then he turns to me and asks, 'Are you okay?'"
Today we’re talking about suffering; and particularly for being a Christian.
Right now Iran has in one of its worst prisons an American pastor named Saeed Abedini. Last September he was in Iran working on building an orphanage when he was arrested and since then he “remains imprisoned in Iran and continues to be tortured, beaten and psychologically abused”. Right now many such as the ACLJ are working with Congress and the UN around the clock in an effort to pressure Iran to free pastor Abedini, and many Christians around the world are faithfully praying for this brother. I find that this story is a sobering reminder that this world’s stance towards Jesus Christ has not changed. Let us be reminded, lest we become too comfortable with this world, that this world hates our Savior, and, hates all who belong to Him. Jesus said, “If they hated me, they will hate you. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.”
Pastor Abedini has joined a long procession of great saints who have been persecuted for their faith (Heb. 11). He is sharing in the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings (Phil. 3:10-11). Peter says he is commendable for bearing up underneath the pain of unjust suffering (1 Pet. 2:19). He also tells us that he is blessed because he bears the name of Christ and suffers for it (1 Pet. 4:12-16). Hebrews 11 tells us his faithful endurance will bring him a better resurrection (Heb. 11). Romans 8 says the glory that awaits him far outweighs any suffering he may endure now (Rom. 8:18).
Paul knew what Pastor Abedini is going through. Suffering was a way of life for the Apostle Paul. When God called him in Acts 9 on the road to Damascus, God said, “I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.” God put Paul on a new road in life and it didn’t lead to Damascus, but, to the city of Suffering. And at one point, while dealing with a troublesome church in Corinth, after long-suffering, and in a final, desparate attempt to bring correction into their life he opens up on a topic that he does not speak of very often. His sufferings. He opens up and lists a long list of what he has endured as a result of his faithfulness to spread the gospel. In 2 Corinthians he says, “………..” And in last year of his life, writing the last letter he will ever write, Paul says in 2 Timothy 3:12, “Timothy! Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ will be persecuted.” Paul merely echoed the promise of Jesus Christ to the disciples in John 15:19, “You do not belong to the world…that is why the world hates you. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you.”
Now, when we come to Ephesians 3:13 we see Paul making reference again to his suffering, but, not elaborating. Paul never went for pity. He never wanted to be seen as a victim. He was a prisoner of the Lord, not of Rome, not of the Jews. He was in prison for the Lord, because of his faithfulness to the Lord.
I see something here that each one of us should see. Each one of us will face trials. Now we may face various types of trials, and some may seem like they have nothing to do with being a Christian. But, like Job, who can know for sure if some calamity has not come because it was first instigated against us in the heavenly realms?
But, I can hardly imagine living my entire life as a believer in Christ pursuing godliness and not ever being confronted by a godless world. I can’t imagine not having any resistance, not being met with any pressure, not being met with any animosity because of the fact that I belong to Christ. If I don’t ever feel the heat for being a Christian then perhaps either I am not one or because I am one but don’t want to live like one. I don’t want to live godly. I’d rather live like the world. Paul said anyone who wants to live a godly life will be persecuted. We do not live in a society that takes kindly to the Lord or those who belong to Him. So my only conclusion is that if we are not facing any persecution of any kind for our faith we either don’t actually belong to Christ, or, we are not doing what we’re supposed to.
While we may never be imprisoned by Iran or Rome for being Christians, my suggestion is that we have much to learn from Paul that can be applied not only in how we see Pastor Saeed’s suffering, but, also how we see our own. Living for Christ can bring challenges. On the job someone can find themselves in a morally compromising situation. Socially there is the risk of being put down, criticized, for your faith, pressured to back down from your convictions. People have had family and friends cut them off because of their conversion to Christ. Sometimes challenges in the Christian life seem less directly related to being a Christian and more universal to all people. Trouble in marriages or raising kids, worry over paying bills, juggling busy schedules an so on.
I want to try and pull out several things about our passage today
Today we are talking about suffering. “Sufferings”, thlipsis, pressure,squeezed, crush, great difficulty
Suffering Puts us in a Pulpit.
Suffering puts us in a pulpit. When we suffer we are watched. Both men and angels are watching.
The point of suffering we see here by Paul is that his suffering became a platform for ministering to others. His suffering was a pulpit. He even said in 6:20, “Pray that I preach fearlessly while I am in prison! – As I should!” He doesn’t ask for money, he doesn’t even ask to be set free. He is bent on one thing and one thing only – to preach the Gospel to every creature whether his pulpit was in a church or in a prison. Whether his audience was a congregation or a prison guard. Paul suffered for evangelism and suffering did not deter him from keeping at it.
You know why? Because the success of Satan is in the silence of the Church. If through suffering Satan can cause the Church to be silent he wins. Oh the Church is talking a lot for sure today. She is “speaking out” on this issue and that issue. She is a “voice” for this cause and that cause. But her lips quiver and shake and seal right up at the thought of proclaiming the gospel. She is running her mouth on everything else but she is shut right up in regards to the only message that can save the souls of men. Paul would not be silent and give one inch to Satan and so he pressed on with the greatest proclamation in history – the gospel of Christ.
At a time when we would think he would be most concerned for himself he was actually most concerned for others. When things were not going his way he was preoccupied with the way things were with others. When he was suffering, he was ministering. I think, that suffering just may be the stage whereby no one pays more attention to what you say and do.
Others have a particular attentiveness toward us because of sympathy and concern. Suffering gives a greater degree of credibility to the one who suffers. When the one suffers speaks, His words carry greater weight. Because of this, there is probably no better opportunity to faithfully proclaim the goodness of God than when we are undergoing trials. When it is expected that we would crumble beneath the weight of what we’re going through, but instead we stand in God’s strength, it is a sermon to all who are watching.
Now, the question is: What are we preaching to others about God by the way we go through our trials? What am I preaching from my pulpit of suffering? What am I saying about God on the stage of my pain? What do they hear from me about my God when I am propped up in the pulpit of my trials? It is quite possible, that just like Paul, the suffering we go through are for the strengthening of others.
What are you going through? Now ask yourself, Who is watching me go through this? Your Pain is a Pulpit whereby you preach something about God. What are you what are you preaching?
Suffering for the Sake of Others.
Secondly, I would say that Suffering may be for the sake of others. Paul says to them, “Do not be discouraged” The word “Discouraged”, is a word that means to lose heart, to lose courage, grow exhausted, to quit and give up. We might say it today like: Just throw in the towel” or “there is no point anymore - all is lost”, we’re gonners, there is no hope…”
Paul was in no way discouraged by his sufferings. His heart was not crushed. Usually it was others who watched Paul that became discouraged (Acts 20:12-14). So, the desire of Paul is that the Ephesians would not become discouraged because of his sufferings. He didn’t want them to think that because he was in prison that the cause of the gospel of Christ and the calling they received was lost. Instead it was evidence of its value.
Furthermore, there was in this statement the reality that the Ephesians related to and sympathized with Paul so much that for him to suffer meant they suffered with him. He knew that how he responded influenced how they responded to his sufferings. And here we have 2 points:
1) That our relationships with each other should be such that your burden is mine. Your joy is mine. The kind of intertwining of our lives brings us to the point that often our own condition depends on the condition of each other. If you are sad, so am I. I you rejoice then so do I with you.
2) Secondly, notice particularly how the response that Paul had to his circumstances was what he wanted them to respond like. He did not lose heart. He was not discouraged. He rejoiced. And he wanted these Ephesians, who were emotionally tied to his well-being to see him doing well despite what was happening to him and for them to see it the way he does. How did he see it? He saw it as their glory. He saw it as part and parcel of his work for the Lord. He saw it as not even worth comparing to the glory that is going to be revealed (Rom 8:18). So, Paul wanted them not to be discouraged, but, rather to be encouraged in his sufferings. He wanted them to look at how he was responding and exhorted them to adopt his response. Think of it, he was saying, I want you to consider the suffering I am going through as your badge of honor.
The Ephesians knew Paul was suffering for their sake. One of the outcomes of this would have been a great sense of indebtedness. How, if such a great cost was paid by Paul for them to hear the Gospel and teach them the ways of God, could they ignore it or treat it cheaply? What may have resulted from the realization that Paul suffered for them? I think they would have sobered up from any intoxication with worldly things. A sharper focus would have come into view on Christ and God’s plans for them as the Church. They would have stooped further into submission to Christ and had a willingness to give up whatever stood in the way of standing for Christ, realizing that theirs were the unsearchable riches of Christ and every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms. Certainly, the debt they felt to Paul, his chains would have deepened their bond with him knowing they personally benefited from his sufferings.
Let us ask this question: If the Ephesians read this verse and they did not feel compelled to go further into godliness, did not stand firmer in their faith, what would God’s estimation of them be? God sent Paul to them to preach and teach the gospel – and to do it at all costs to himself. If they did not respond to the message when it came at such great cost they would have been unworthy. That is why Paul says in 4:1 to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.
If their reaction was not an active and accelerated pursuit of godliness as Christians and to suffer at all costs to live for Christ then shame on them. God treated them in a great way to send such a man as Paul and to even have Paul mistreated just so they could hear from Him God’s message. It would be nothing less than shameful to treat his teachings and sufferings as a small thing and not applying themselves to them.
Notice that Paul is suffering. He is suffering on their behalf. And yet notice that his focus is not on himself but them. In the midst of his own trials he was not pre-occupied with himself, not wallowing in self-pity, but, ministering to others. Suffering almost had an accelerating effect on his ministry to others. Paul’s prayer life increased in his trials. Notice in the next verse Paul is going to explain how he prays for them. Through his letters and prayers he was absorbed in the well-being of others even while his own well-being suffered.
It is our natural tendency that we focus on ourselves when we go through hardship. We are trying to just get through what we’re going through, how could we possibly have any left over for others and be of use to them? What we see here is Paul’s ministry to others increased the more tribulation came his way.
I would ask you to ask yourself, in what ways can your own ministry to the others here be increased while you are going through hardship? I say that because the value of what you do multiplies when someone knows that while you are helping them you are the one who is hurting.
Suffering Re-Sets our Sights.
Paul pointed them to their glory, “Don’t be discouraged, because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.” Your glory. The Ephesians are troubled because their beloved Paul is in trouble. He is suffering. But what makes it even more personally painful is they know he is suffering for their sake. And what is Paul’s encouragement to them? He doesn’t say, don’t worry I’m getting out of this trouble. Don’t worry about me I know the glory awaiting me. No, he says effectively, the sufferings I am going through ARE your glory. In other words, you can rejoice because I am suffering because my suffering is your glory. What does that mean? How could these Christians rejoice in Paul’s sufferings and think of his trials as their own glory? How could the answer to their discouragement be to celebrate his suffering as something done for them?
This phrase has puzzled commentators. Some good suggestions have been put forth. And in my thinking on this, let me suggest a 3-fold answer.
First, it was the glory secured for them in the past. In other words, Paul came to them with the gospel and preached the message of salvation and at great cost to himself. They heard it, they believed it, and they were saved. And immediately upon believing they were secured for an eternal glory in Christ. Paul’s entire ministry was characterized by persecution and suffering. In this way then, speaking on a big picture perspective, the sufferings in general that Paul endured while bringing the gospel to Gentiles like the Ephesians meant that the glory of eternal life in Christ became theirs when they believed. “Your Glory”, Paul’s sufferings for them was something they could be proud of, a source of boasting. We can glory in Christ, who suffered for us, who loved us to the end which meant all the way to the cross of suffering. Paul loved the Ephesians and in his love for them he suffered all the way to a prison for them.
Suffering for the sake of the Church. (Eph. 3:13; Col 1:24-27) The fact is that for you to have come to Christ someone somewhere suffered. Christ suffered to purchase your deliverance. And for the sake of proclaiming the gospel and preserving the word of God onto the next generation many, many have given their lives.
Second, Paul’s present sufferings for them stimulated their progress in the faith, which we looked at in the previous point.
Third, Paul’s present sufferings would point them to the glory to come. Suffering is an effective reminder of the inadequacy of this world to truly satisfy. It is a reminder of how truly inferior these bodies are. Suffering brings us painfully close to the effect of sin. It is a gracious reminder to us not to set our sights on this world or anything it offers. It reminds us to put our attention on what is to come that God has promised. Romans 8:18 says, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that be revealed in us.” Suffering helps stimulate that feeling of being a stranger here; that we don’t belong here, that this is not our home, that we are never truly comfortable here, and this is not what we are destined for. Our treasure is elsewhere, while here we are poor. We glory in Christ but this world gives no glory to our Savior or to those who belong to Him. His glory, of which we will share in, is in another place and is yet to come. One writer has said, “Suffering gets our attention; it forces us to look to God, when otherwise we would just as well ignored Him”
Our eyes
Conclusion:
Parnell Bailey visited an orange grove where an irrigation pump had broken down. The season was unusually dry and some of the trees were beginning to die for lack of water. The man giving the tour then took Bailey to his own orchard where irrigation was used sparingly. "These trees could go without rain for another 2 weeks," he said. "You see, when they were young, I frequently kept water from them. This hardship caused them to send their roots deeper into the soil in search of moisture. Now mine are the deepest-rooted trees in the area. While others are being scorched by the sun, these are finding moisture at a greater depth."
Are you finding water under the heat of your trial? Are your roots digging deeper into Christ? As Christians let us remember that our trials may just be a pulpit for proclaiming the greatness of and goodness of God. Our suffering may very well be for the strengthening of others. And to Set our Sights on Christ and what is to come.
The Pulpit of Pain
One time a New Yorker was driving through Texas when he collided with a truck carrying a horse. A few months later he tried to collect damages for his injuries. The insurance company’s lawyer asked him, "How can you now claim to have all these injuries? According to the police report, at the time you said you were not hurt." The New Yorker said, “Look, all I know was that I was lying on the road in a lot of pain, and I heard someone say the horse had a broken leg. The next thing I know this Texas Ranger pulls out his gun and shoots the horse. Then he turns to me and asks, 'Are you okay?'"
Today we’re talking about suffering; and particularly for being a Christian.
Right now Iran has in one of its worst prisons an American pastor named Saeed Abedini. Last September he was in Iran working on building an orphanage when he was arrested and since then he “remains imprisoned in Iran and continues to be tortured, beaten and psychologically abused”. Right now many such as the ACLJ are working with Congress and the UN around the clock in an effort to pressure Iran to free pastor Abedini, and many Christians around the world are faithfully praying for this brother. I find that this story is a sobering reminder that this world’s stance towards Jesus Christ has not changed. Let us be reminded, lest we become too comfortable with this world, that this world hates our Savior, and, hates all who belong to Him. Jesus said, “If they hated me, they will hate you. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.”
Pastor Abedini has joined a long procession of great saints who have been persecuted for their faith (Heb. 11). He is sharing in the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings (Phil. 3:10-11). Peter says he is commendable for bearing up underneath the pain of unjust suffering (1 Pet. 2:19). He also tells us that he is blessed because he bears the name of Christ and suffers for it (1 Pet. 4:12-16). Hebrews 11 tells us his faithful endurance will bring him a better resurrection (Heb. 11). Romans 8 says the glory that awaits him far outweighs any suffering he may endure now (Rom. 8:18).
Paul knew what Pastor Abedini is going through. Suffering was a way of life for the Apostle Paul. When God called him in Acts 9 on the road to Damascus, God said, “I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.” God put Paul on a new road in life and it didn’t lead to Damascus, but, to the city of Suffering. And at one point, while dealing with a troublesome church in Corinth, after long-suffering, and in a final, desparate attempt to bring correction into their life he opens up on a topic that he does not speak of very often. His sufferings. He opens up and lists a long list of what he has endured as a result of his faithfulness to spread the gospel. In 2 Corinthians he says, “………..” And in last year of his life, writing the last letter he will ever write, Paul says in 2 Timothy 3:12, “Timothy! Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ will be persecuted.” Paul merely echoed the promise of Jesus Christ to the disciples in John 15:19, “You do not belong to the world…that is why the world hates you. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you.”
Now, when we come to Ephesians 3:13 we see Paul making reference again to his suffering, but, not elaborating. Paul never went for pity. He never wanted to be seen as a victim. He was a prisoner of the Lord, not of Rome, not of the Jews. He was in prison for the Lord, because of his faithfulness to the Lord.
I see something here that each one of us should see. Each one of us will face trials. Now we may face various types of trials, and some may seem like they have nothing to do with being a Christian. But, like Job, who can know for sure if some calamity has not come because it was first instigated against us in the heavenly realms?
But, I can hardly imagine living my entire life as a believer in Christ pursuing godliness and not ever being confronted by a godless world. I can’t imagine not having any resistance, not being met with any pressure, not being met with any animosity because of the fact that I belong to Christ. If I don’t ever feel the heat for being a Christian then perhaps either I am not one or because I am one but don’t want to live like one. I don’t want to live godly. I’d rather live like the world. Paul said anyone who wants to live a godly life will be persecuted. We do not live in a society that takes kindly to the Lord or those who belong to Him. So my only conclusion is that if we are not facing any persecution of any kind for our faith we either don’t actually belong to Christ, or, we are not doing what we’re supposed to.
While we may never be imprisoned by Iran or Rome for being Christians, my suggestion is that we have much to learn from Paul that can be applied not only in how we see Pastor Saeed’s suffering, but, also how we see our own. Living for Christ can bring challenges. On the job someone can find themselves in a morally compromising situation. Socially there is the risk of being put down, criticized, for your faith, pressured to back down from your convictions. People have had family and friends cut them off because of their conversion to Christ. Sometimes challenges in the Christian life seem less directly related to being a Christian and more universal to all people. Trouble in marriages or raising kids, worry over paying bills, juggling busy schedules an so on.
I want to try and pull out several things about our passage today
Today we are talking about suffering. “Sufferings”, thlipsis, pressure,squeezed, crush, great difficulty
Suffering Puts us in a Pulpit.
Suffering puts us in a pulpit. When we suffer we are watched. Both men and angels are watching.
The point of suffering we see here by Paul is that his suffering became a platform for ministering to others. His suffering was a pulpit. He even said in 6:20, “Pray that I preach fearlessly while I am in prison! – As I should!” He doesn’t ask for money, he doesn’t even ask to be set free. He is bent on one thing and one thing only – to preach the Gospel to every creature whether his pulpit was in a church or in a prison. Whether his audience was a congregation or a prison guard. Paul suffered for evangelism and suffering did not deter him from keeping at it.
You know why? Because the success of Satan is in the silence of the Church. If through suffering Satan can cause the Church to be silent he wins. Oh the Church is talking a lot for sure today. She is “speaking out” on this issue and that issue. She is a “voice” for this cause and that cause. But her lips quiver and shake and seal right up at the thought of proclaiming the gospel. She is running her mouth on everything else but she is shut right up in regards to the only message that can save the souls of men. Paul would not be silent and give one inch to Satan and so he pressed on with the greatest proclamation in history – the gospel of Christ.
At a time when we would think he would be most concerned for himself he was actually most concerned for others. When things were not going his way he was preoccupied with the way things were with others. When he was suffering, he was ministering. I think, that suffering just may be the stage whereby no one pays more attention to what you say and do.
Others have a particular attentiveness toward us because of sympathy and concern. Suffering gives a greater degree of credibility to the one who suffers. When the one suffers speaks, His words carry greater weight. Because of this, there is probably no better opportunity to faithfully proclaim the goodness of God than when we are undergoing trials. When it is expected that we would crumble beneath the weight of what we’re going through, but instead we stand in God’s strength, it is a sermon to all who are watching.
Now, the question is: What are we preaching to others about God by the way we go through our trials? What am I preaching from my pulpit of suffering? What am I saying about God on the stage of my pain? What do they hear from me about my God when I am propped up in the pulpit of my trials? It is quite possible, that just like Paul, the suffering we go through are for the strengthening of others.
What are you going through? Now ask yourself, Who is watching me go through this? Your Pain is a Pulpit whereby you preach something about God. What are you what are you preaching?
Suffering for the Sake of Others.
Secondly, I would say that Suffering may be for the sake of others. Paul says to them, “Do not be discouraged” The word “Discouraged”, is a word that means to lose heart, to lose courage, grow exhausted, to quit and give up. We might say it today like: Just throw in the towel” or “there is no point anymore - all is lost”, we’re gonners, there is no hope…”
Paul was in no way discouraged by his sufferings. His heart was not crushed. Usually it was others who watched Paul that became discouraged (Acts 20:12-14). So, the desire of Paul is that the Ephesians would not become discouraged because of his sufferings. He didn’t want them to think that because he was in prison that the cause of the gospel of Christ and the calling they received was lost. Instead it was evidence of its value.
Furthermore, there was in this statement the reality that the Ephesians related to and sympathized with Paul so much that for him to suffer meant they suffered with him. He knew that how he responded influenced how they responded to his sufferings. And here we have 2 points:
1) That our relationships with each other should be such that your burden is mine. Your joy is mine. The kind of intertwining of our lives brings us to the point that often our own condition depends on the condition of each other. If you are sad, so am I. I you rejoice then so do I with you.
2) Secondly, notice particularly how the response that Paul had to his circumstances was what he wanted them to respond like. He did not lose heart. He was not discouraged. He rejoiced. And he wanted these Ephesians, who were emotionally tied to his well-being to see him doing well despite what was happening to him and for them to see it the way he does. How did he see it? He saw it as their glory. He saw it as part and parcel of his work for the Lord. He saw it as not even worth comparing to the glory that is going to be revealed (Rom 8:18). So, Paul wanted them not to be discouraged, but, rather to be encouraged in his sufferings. He wanted them to look at how he was responding and exhorted them to adopt his response. Think of it, he was saying, I want you to consider the suffering I am going through as your badge of honor.
The Ephesians knew Paul was suffering for their sake. One of the outcomes of this would have been a great sense of indebtedness. How, if such a great cost was paid by Paul for them to hear the Gospel and teach them the ways of God, could they ignore it or treat it cheaply? What may have resulted from the realization that Paul suffered for them? I think they would have sobered up from any intoxication with worldly things. A sharper focus would have come into view on Christ and God’s plans for them as the Church. They would have stooped further into submission to Christ and had a willingness to give up whatever stood in the way of standing for Christ, realizing that theirs were the unsearchable riches of Christ and every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms. Certainly, the debt they felt to Paul, his chains would have deepened their bond with him knowing they personally benefited from his sufferings.
Let us ask this question: If the Ephesians read this verse and they did not feel compelled to go further into godliness, did not stand firmer in their faith, what would God’s estimation of them be? God sent Paul to them to preach and teach the gospel – and to do it at all costs to himself. If they did not respond to the message when it came at such great cost they would have been unworthy. That is why Paul says in 4:1 to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.
If their reaction was not an active and accelerated pursuit of godliness as Christians and to suffer at all costs to live for Christ then shame on them. God treated them in a great way to send such a man as Paul and to even have Paul mistreated just so they could hear from Him God’s message. It would be nothing less than shameful to treat his teachings and sufferings as a small thing and not applying themselves to them.
Notice that Paul is suffering. He is suffering on their behalf. And yet notice that his focus is not on himself but them. In the midst of his own trials he was not pre-occupied with himself, not wallowing in self-pity, but, ministering to others. Suffering almost had an accelerating effect on his ministry to others. Paul’s prayer life increased in his trials. Notice in the next verse Paul is going to explain how he prays for them. Through his letters and prayers he was absorbed in the well-being of others even while his own well-being suffered.
It is our natural tendency that we focus on ourselves when we go through hardship. We are trying to just get through what we’re going through, how could we possibly have any left over for others and be of use to them? What we see here is Paul’s ministry to others increased the more tribulation came his way.
I would ask you to ask yourself, in what ways can your own ministry to the others here be increased while you are going through hardship? I say that because the value of what you do multiplies when someone knows that while you are helping them you are the one who is hurting.
Suffering Re-Sets our Sights.
Paul pointed them to their glory, “Don’t be discouraged, because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.” Your glory. The Ephesians are troubled because their beloved Paul is in trouble. He is suffering. But what makes it even more personally painful is they know he is suffering for their sake. And what is Paul’s encouragement to them? He doesn’t say, don’t worry I’m getting out of this trouble. Don’t worry about me I know the glory awaiting me. No, he says effectively, the sufferings I am going through ARE your glory. In other words, you can rejoice because I am suffering because my suffering is your glory. What does that mean? How could these Christians rejoice in Paul’s sufferings and think of his trials as their own glory? How could the answer to their discouragement be to celebrate his suffering as something done for them?
This phrase has puzzled commentators. Some good suggestions have been put forth. And in my thinking on this, let me suggest a 3-fold answer.
First, it was the glory secured for them in the past. In other words, Paul came to them with the gospel and preached the message of salvation and at great cost to himself. They heard it, they believed it, and they were saved. And immediately upon believing they were secured for an eternal glory in Christ. Paul’s entire ministry was characterized by persecution and suffering. In this way then, speaking on a big picture perspective, the sufferings in general that Paul endured while bringing the gospel to Gentiles like the Ephesians meant that the glory of eternal life in Christ became theirs when they believed. “Your Glory”, Paul’s sufferings for them was something they could be proud of, a source of boasting. We can glory in Christ, who suffered for us, who loved us to the end which meant all the way to the cross of suffering. Paul loved the Ephesians and in his love for them he suffered all the way to a prison for them.
Suffering for the sake of the Church. (Eph. 3:13; Col 1:24-27) The fact is that for you to have come to Christ someone somewhere suffered. Christ suffered to purchase your deliverance. And for the sake of proclaiming the gospel and preserving the word of God onto the next generation many, many have given their lives.
Second, Paul’s present sufferings for them stimulated their progress in the faith, which we looked at in the previous point.
Third, Paul’s present sufferings would point them to the glory to come. Suffering is an effective reminder of the inadequacy of this world to truly satisfy. It is a reminder of how truly inferior these bodies are. Suffering brings us painfully close to the effect of sin. It is a gracious reminder to us not to set our sights on this world or anything it offers. It reminds us to put our attention on what is to come that God has promised. Romans 8:18 says, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that be revealed in us.” Suffering helps stimulate that feeling of being a stranger here; that we don’t belong here, that this is not our home, that we are never truly comfortable here, and this is not what we are destined for. Our treasure is elsewhere, while here we are poor. We glory in Christ but this world gives no glory to our Savior or to those who belong to Him. His glory, of which we will share in, is in another place and is yet to come. One writer has said, “Suffering gets our attention; it forces us to look to God, when otherwise we would just as well ignored Him”
Our eyes
Conclusion:
Parnell Bailey visited an orange grove where an irrigation pump had broken down. The season was unusually dry and some of the trees were beginning to die for lack of water. The man giving the tour then took Bailey to his own orchard where irrigation was used sparingly. "These trees could go without rain for another 2 weeks," he said. "You see, when they were young, I frequently kept water from them. This hardship caused them to send their roots deeper into the soil in search of moisture. Now mine are the deepest-rooted trees in the area. While others are being scorched by the sun, these are finding moisture at a greater depth."
Are you finding water under the heat of your trial? Are your roots digging deeper into Christ? As Christians let us remember that our trials may just be a pulpit for proclaiming the greatness of and goodness of God. Our suffering may very well be for the strengthening of others. And to Set our Sights on Christ and what is to come.
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