To take this passage seriously one can only conclude that the Christian walk is not an easy one. The Christian who walks faithfully will endure hardship and persecution at times. Paul’s images of his own life are explicit: “We are like men condemned to death in the arena, a spectacle to the whole universe. We are fools for Christ’s sake…to this day we go hungry and thirsty and in rags; we are roughly handled; we wander from place to place; we wear ourselves out. They curse us, and we bless; they persecute us, and we submit to it; they slander us, and we humbly make our appeal. We are treated as scum, the dregs of humanity, to this very day (verses 9-13).
Paul believed and professed that as Christ suffered before he was glorified, so too shall the followers of Christ be called to endure suffering or persecution in their walk. As F.F. Bruce reflects: “According to Paul, Christ, having been raised from the dead, was now exercising his kingship in his state of glory; when his people in their turn were raised from the dead at his parousia, they would share his glory (Col. 3:4). But as for Paul, suffering preceded glory, and the same order was prescribed: ‘provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him’” (Romans 8:17).
Question: Where in your faith walk are you encountering suffering? Do you bless (forgive) another when you are cursed? Are you willing to go hungry, to live in rags, if being a witness for Christ sends you down that road? If suffering must precede glory, are you willing to follow him?
Paul took his Christian walk seriously, and talks honestly in I Corinthians 4 about what it means to endure hardship in order to live faithfully. The season of Lent does not discount or deny the hardships which faithful obedience may bring.
Written by Pastor Joe Collins
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