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Sufferings Of Christ And His Church
"Beloved, think it not
strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange
thing happened unto you. But rejoice inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s
sufferings, that when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad with
exceeding joy."—1Pe 4:12.
While we understand from Scripture that present evil
in general shall ultimately be overruled of God and made to minister good, yet
we are far from thinking that "all is for the best," or that
everything which occurs in the world was foreordained of God and brought about
by Him. No; we must remember that since Adam’s disobedience, the Paradise whose
perfection and blessings were suited to the perfect man has been done away
with; and that the sin-cursed race has been condemned to the as yet unfinished
and imperfect earth. The Garden of Eden was merely a little spot finished
beforehand, in order to provide a perfect trial for the perfect man Adam.
By the time that man has been restored to manhood as represented in Adam, the
earth also shall have reached the perfection as represented in Eden. Meantime,
the turbulence of nature—cyclones, earthquakes, etc., incident to the
unfinished work—continues, and constitutes part of the evil to which the entire
race of Adam became subject through the sin of their father, and from which
they will shortly be released as a result of the work accomplished by our
Redeemer.
But in all this confusion of nature the Scriptures teach us that there is a
class under special Divine supervision, and that to these nothing out of God’s
order can happen. This is the consecrated class, the members of the Anointed
Body—The Christ. We know that all
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things work together for good to them that love God, to those who are the
called according to His purpose.
WHY CHASTISEMENTS ARE NECESSARY
While it should be a cause of sorrow to us that we should need special
chastisements to recall us to duty, yet we must not forget that these are
evidences that we are still reckoned of God as amongst His sons; and that such
chastisements are thus a demonstration of His love for us and of His desire
that we make our calling and election sure to the grand prize for which the
consecrated class is running. In view of this fact any consecrated follower of
the Master who receives such corrections in righteousness should not think it
STRANGE.
But while such trials should not be thought strange, St. Peter in our text
evidently meant more than this; for he says, "Rejoice, inasmuch as ye are
partakers of Christ’s sufferings." Our Lord did not suffer because of
disloyalty or failure to keep His contract, His Covenant of Sacrifice. He did
not suffer because of spiritual drowsiness and conformity to the world. Nor did
He suffer because of self-will leading Him to ignore the Father’s will and word,
nor because some plan of His own must be dashed to pieces. The sufferings of
Christ were from no such cause as any of these. Hence to the extent that we
share His sufferings it must not be as chastisement for evil nor in the
renouncing of evil, but a suffering wrongfully—undeservedly. His was a
suffering for well-doing and for the Truth’s sake; and to be sharers or
partakers of His suffering, on account of which we may rejoice and anticipate
coming glory, we must take heed to the cause of the suffering. We only deceive
ourselves if we count sufferings for sin as part of our suffering for Christ,
and on that account expect the glory to be revealed.—1Pe 4:14-16.
We are well aware that "this is a hard saying," and that many will
not permit themselves to believe it. The terms "sufferings of Christ"
and "sacrifice" have long
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been misused. Many reckon themselves as sacrificers with Christ because they
have abandoned some practice which they consider evil—such as profanity, the
use of stimulants, extravagant dressing, dancing, etc. If these things are
wrong, then no one ever had a right to them.
Hence it cannot be a "sacrifice" with Christ to discontinue anything
which is wrong in and of itself.
WHAT THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST INCLUDE
What, then, are the sufferings of Christ which we may endure for His sake? some
one may ask. We reply, the word Christ signifies anointed; and hence those
sufferings could not have commenced with Jesus until after He had been anointed
of the Holy Spirit at the time of His water immersion at Jordan—after John the
Baptist had immersed Him in water as a symbol of His consecration unto death.
So, too, it is with all of the followers of Jesus in the narrow way of
sacrifice. Not one of us could share in the sufferings of the Anointed unless
first we had consecrated ourselves to God, and had been accepted in the Beloved
and begotten of the Holy Spirit, thus becoming members of the Anointed Company.
The sacrifice and sufferings of Christ Jesus included every item of mental and
physical pain and of self-denial experienced as a RESULT of His consecration,
until it was completed in death. Therefore it included the denial of all
laudable and proper human ambitions which our Lord as a perfect man must have
experienced more than could imperfect men. It also included the reproach which
He bore from His fellow men for the sake of the Truth, especially from the
teachers of the nominal church of His day. It also included His weariness and
exhaustion caused not only by preaching, but through the giving out of His own
vital energy for the good of others in healing the sick, etc.—Mr 5:30.
Similar to these are the sufferings of Christ which His footstep followers may
well rejoice to have shared, when the time shall come for the glory to be revealed.
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They begin with the hour of our consecration; and if we are faithful, they will
end only with our death. With us as with our Head and Pattern the sacrifice
consists in denying ourselves things which are lawful and proper, in our
endeavors to honor God, to promote Truth and to help in any way those in need,
especially them of the Household of Faith. Apparently, most of the Body of the
Anointed Company will, like their Head, spend more of their sacrificed time and
substance in supplying spiritual wants of men than in providing for physical
needs, although the latter should not be neglected.
ILLUSTRATIONS OF SUCH SACRIFICES
Perhaps before your consecration you were ambitious in the exercise of
legitimate business talent. But your consecration demanded time and thought for
the careful study of God’s Word, that you might acquaint yourself with Him and
with His will concerning you, and that you might communicate this knowledge to
others. To obtain the necessary leisure to accomplish this work, you had to
curb your business ambition. Both your time and your talent were yours no
longer; for you had consecrated them to the Lord. Hence, although business was
still needful, it became secondary; and your Father’s business was first.
Therefore your former ambitions were restricted to necessity and to the
promotion of the Heavenly Father’s business.
Perhaps you had taken great pleasure in making home elegant, in dressing
yourself and your family in elegance; and you had said that this was right
because you had earned your money righteously, and you felt sure that God loves
beautiful things and that His Heavenly Home and family are elegant. But now
with time and money fully consecrated, you realize something of the pleasure of
sacrificing with Christ by denying yourself such luxuries, and by restricting
your outlay of the Lord’s time and money to the providing of things needful and
decent in the sight of all men.
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It may be that you were fond of company, and passed many a pleasant hour in
music, social chat, harmless dancing and innocent amusements and games. Now,
while not condemning these innocent recreations in the world, your Covenant of
Sacrifice with Christ demands that your time, money and influence formerly thus
used shall, except so much as may come within the range of necessities or
emergencies, be faithfully accounted for to God; that your rights and
privileges in these things shall be sacrificed; and that the time, money and
influence be used in the service of God.
Possibly you once were interested in politics, in the temperance question, in
the prevention of cruelty to animals, in the subject of international peace, in
the prison reform movement, in a labor union, etc., etc. Many an hour, many a
dollar, and the full weight of your influence you give to these worthy objects,
which you still believe to have been well spent in an endeavor to do good.
But now you find that your consecration vow compels you to pursue a different
course, and that these plans which were your own will and way for doing good
must be sacrificed to God’s plans; and you must follow your Leader.
Furthermore, as you mark carefully our Lord’s course, you will perceive that
although He was in sympathy with every moral reform, yet He used His time and
influence wholly in preaching the Gospel—the Glad Tidings of great joy, which
shall be to all people. And as you came more fully to appreciate the Lord’s
ways, you realized that these moral reforms, which would be carried forward by
the kind and benevolent of the world just as well without you, could never
reach perfection until Messiah’s Kingdom shall obtain control. Then you
realized, as you had not done at first, the necessity of the work in which you
should be engaged—that the preaching of the "Good Tidings of good" things
to come was God’s method of developing you, as well as other consecrated
followers of our Lord, for a share in that great
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and successful Moral Reform which shall obtain throughout the world when the
King of Glory and His Bride are enthroned in power.
OPPOSITION FROM FORMER FRIENDS
Formerly you not only delighted to do generously, giving to everything and
speaking favorably of all, but you also appreciated highly the good will and
favor of all toward you. This showed a good spirit and a broad heart which none
could help admiring; and such admiration is always sweet. We may be sure that
the perfect man Jesus would have enjoyed doing these very things.
But under His Covenant of Sacrifice He must and did deny Himself this
enjoyment. He must and did rebuke sin, error and hypocrisy; and thus He
forfeited (sacrificed) the good opinion and the admiration of the nominal
church of His day. Instead of quietly letting the Scribes and the Pharisees
alone, He must and did sacrifice His inclination for peace in order to advance
the Truth, honor God and bless the people.
So have you found it, also. You could no longer give to everything; for by your
Covenant of Sacrifice with Christ you had already given to God ALL THAT YOU
HAD.
Now you are merely God’s agent or steward; and you can give nothing without
consulting His directions and ascertaining whether it will go to advance truth
or error.
You no longer have option or choice; and of course some who once thought you
whole-hearted and generous will now consider you narrow-minded, bigoted.
This will be true also in regard to doctrinal matters.
Once you carelessly and ignorantly—though benevolently—supposed that all
denominations of Christians believed alike, and merely took so many different
routes to Heaven, appointed by God, in order that each person might have a
choice of form of worship. Then your friends called you a broad-minded
Christian. But after your consecration had led you to a study of God’s Plan as
recorded in His Word, you perceived your mistake.
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You saw that you never had been a Christian in the full sense before, and that
many of the doctrines taught by all the denominations are contrary to God’s
purposes as revealed in His Word. Thus you began to be what the world calls
"narrow-minded", and were obliged to oppose certain systems as well
as doctrines. Finally, with a further search of your Heavenly Father’s plans
and purposes, you found that the various systems calling themselves churches
and laying down rules and doctrines for faith and practise are ALL OF THEM mere
human arrangements, and that their doctrines are self-arranged and
self-binding, a mixture of truth and falsehood blinding and confusing to both
saint and sinner.
When you found that the Church mentioned by our Lord Jesus Christ and His
Apostles is not one of the man-made systems, nor yet all of them together, but
that it is composed of the class who, having consecrated their all to God, were
accepted through the Redeemer and had their names written in Heaven, then an
additional trial came upon you. Would you or would you not sacrifice your
honor, your social standing, "your good name" and your
"broad-minded" reputation for THE TRUTH?
That was one of the severest of your SUFFERINGS; yet with the Master you said,
"Father, glorify Thy name." And as you saw the counterpart of this in
our Redeemer’s sacrifice, you heard Him say, "It is sufficient that the
disciple be as his Lord. It has occurred to you as I forewarned you: When they
shall say all manner of evil against you falsely (and often ignorantly) for My
sake, rejoice and be exceedingly glad; for great is your reward in
Heaven." In your rejoicing you no longer think strange of the fiery trials
that encompass you.
Hereafter let us more and more rejoice in such sufferings—rejoicing
that we are counted WORTHY to suffer for Christ’s sake now; for whoever thus
suffers faithfully unto death shall also be counted worthy to reign with Him in
the life to come.
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