Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Mar/92

Contributor - John P. Drost

Title - Strong at The Broken Places

Topic - Suffering

The following presentation was made at a meeting of "Christian Rainbows,"a Christian support organization for family members and friends of those suffering from schizophrenia. The words "suffer" and "suffering" used in the article have specific reference to this group but may, of course, also be applied universally.

Suffering is universal - it is not confined to certain people or certain groups, although individuals and groups often suffer their own kind of brokenness as is true for the group mentioned above. As Christians we know why there is suffering. It is because of sin - original sin as we define it in our doctrinal teaching. Sin has left us broken. The evidence of that is everywhere. Illness and death are manifestations of our brokenness. All of us can personally testify to that. What I want to stress in this article, however, is that as Christians who live in and through Christ, we may be victors in our suffering, or put in different words, we may become strong at the broken places. The reasons why we can make this claim is twofold. First, it is because in Christ we suffer redemptively, and second because in Christ we suffer corporately.

We need not be victims in our suffering

In Christ we suffer redemptively. "In Christ" we are not to be victims in our suffering but conquerors. In I Peter 2:24, the apostle says: "Christ Himself bore our sin [our suffering] in His Body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness." The reason why we need not be victims in our suffering is because He was Victim for us; He took our place once and for all. However, Jesus the Lamb, the Victim, did not remain the Victim. From Calvary the scene moves to the open tomb. Christ is Risen! Hallelujah! The apostle Paul exclaims: "Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over Him" (Romans 6:9). Christ the Victim has become Christ the Victor and we with Him.

To be a Christian is, in a sense, more than accepting Christ as Lord and Saviour. In Romans 6, Paul takes pains to point out that to be a Christian is to be united with Christ; it is being one with Him. It is being united with Him in His death, and it is being united with Him in His resurrection. It means that our life is thus united with Jesus', that what is true for Him is true for us. If He died to sin, I died to sin. If sin, suffering and brokenness have no longer dominion over Him, they no longer have dominion over me. That is why I can say that we are not to be victims of our suffering but conquerors.

The good purpose of suffering

Being conquerors over our suffering translates into some practical insights. If my suffering is redemptive, and if I am not victim but victor, then my suffering has a purpose: it serves God's purpose, and therefore a good purpose, even though we do not always see that in the context of where we are. However, we can see it when we look to Jesus, Author and Finisher of our faith, "through Whom we first believed, and through

Whom, one day, our believing shall be seeing." The Hebrew letter says: "that He endured the Cross for the joy that was set before Him." (12:2) Jesus' suffering, in other words, was not an end in itself, it was a means to an end: it was redemptive. The joy by which He endured the Cross was joyous anticipation of what His suffering would accomplish for you and for me, and thereby for His Father's glory. Likewise, the suffering of those who are in Christ is not just a painful experience, but by the grace of God it may have that element of joyous anticipation of what it will accomplish.

I think of these accomplishments in terms of the place you take in the life of a suffering loved one or friend: the security you provide in his or her life in the form of love, encouragement, hope and strength. On their part, they have the understanding that because of you they are not abandoned. This is redemptive suffering.

I think of it in terms of the fulfilment of God's calling of you as care givers, and the joy that comes with doing His will. Jesus, in obeying His Heavenly Father, glorified Him in doing so. So it is with those who are in Christ. In the faithful fulfilment of their calling, they bring glory to God.

I think of it in terms of our own relationship with the Lord. There is a sense, says the Hebrew letter, in which suffering is discipline - a discipline not to destroy but to make whole, and to allow spiritual growth to take place. The Hebrew letter concludes: "He disciplines us for our good, that we may share His holiness," so that by the grace of the Holy Spirit we may become more and more like Him.

Our suffering is redemptive suffering for we are "in Christ." Therefore we must not think of ourselves as victims but as victors, as conquerors, as those who may be blessed in their suffering.

We suffer "in company"

While we suffer redemptively we also suffer corporately, which means that we suffer in company. "To be in Christ" has a deep personal significance, but it also has a deep corporate significance, for "to be in Christ" is "to be in His Body, the Church." We Christians are the Body of Christ, while Christ is the Head of that Body. Thus, to be in Christ" is to be in His Body.

The Church can be defined in different ways. It is that body of believers who acknowledge Christ as Lord and Saviour. It is also that body of believers who are sustained and nourished by God's Word and Spirit. However, the Church is also a community and a fellowship. It is a koinonia - a community in which we are members of one another, and a community in which we belong to each other and interact with one another in certain God appointed ways.

There are three characteristics of the Church as Community that are important for our consideration. First, we note that the Church is composed of many members. The word "many" expresses the diversity that may be found among the members of the Church, or the uniqueness of each member. It also implies that all members have equal status in the Body of Christ. In light of our concern, those who are physically or mentally disadvantaged have the same status in the Body of Christ as those who, by human standards, are of able body and mind. Even more important is the fact that they cannot function without each other. The apostle Paul writes in I Corinthians 12:21: "At no time can one member say of another, 'I don't need you."' We can apply what that means to those who suffer disabilities. Not only have they a rightful place in the Body of Christ, but they are also indispensable, they cannot be missed.

A ministry to one another

Secondly, everyone contributes to the life of the Church in accordance with the grace or the gift given to each. When Jean Vanier, the founder of L:Arche (the Ark), established a home for the physically and mentally disabled, his ministry was not simply to the housemates. In their weakness, these poor and suffering individuals began opening up the hidden ways of God to each other. Their way of life, on a level so different from his own, began to transform Vanier's life from within. I believe the Church will be a changed community if we take more seriously those who, in human terms, perhaps have the lesser gift but who, as Goo s chosen ones and by His grace, have a unique function to fulfil within the Body of Christ.

Thirdly, the Body of Christ is characterized by a ministry to one another. The Scriptures exhort Christians within the Body of Christ to love one another, to encourage one another, to admonish one another, to forgive one another, to forbear one another, and to bear one another's burdens. What a tremendous source of comfort and strength does Christ provide in and through His Body, the Church. This is what it means when we say that "in Christ" His Body, the Church, our suffering is corporate. We do not stand alone because our suffering is shared by all members of the Body so that "where one suffers all suffer together, and if one member is honoured all rejoice together."

Our suffering in Christ is redemptive suffering. We need not be victims, but victors. Our suffering is corporate because it is shared in the Body of Christ. For these reasons we can be strong at the broken places. Our brokenness may be overcome by God's grace, in Christ's name.

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