“It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until He has hurt him deeply.”
― A.W. Tozer
"God will never use a man effectively until He first wounds the man." .....paraphrased.
Philippians 3:10.
"That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;"
This is an amazing prayer request that Paul prayed to God concerning His desires. The most amazing prayer requests believers must make are the Pauline prayer requests. These prayer requests reveal some basic requirements for every Christian to have in order to live a victorious and fruitful life in Christ Jesus. They also reveal God's strategy for making available to us His greatest blessings for our lives.
The first prayer here is the prayer to know Jesus Christ. God never sends any man on a divine task/assignment without first revealing Himself to the man. The first equipment that the believer needs before he/she embarks on fulfilling his/her destiny or divine assignment here on earth is the revelation of Jesus.
The message of God is delivered to the world by a messenger that knows God i.e has an intimate knowledge of God (gynosko = intimacy). The apostles had a revelation of the Risen Lord. If this revelation was not important, Jesus would not have appeared to them after His resurrection. God never used a man mightily that He did not reveal Himself to.
He revealed Himself to the Old Testament patriarchs.
He revealed Himself to Moses
The 2nd prayer request addresses the manifestation of power of His resurrection. This power of His resurrection was invested in us when we received Christ into our lives as our Lord and personal saviour. The Holy Spirit was sent to manifest this power in us and through us. This power is the power that conquered Sin, Satan and Death. It also positioned us at the right hand of God the Father in Christ Jesus! (Ephesians 1:19-21)
The 3rd prayer request which I want to emphasize today is the key to rulership or dominion. God never used a man powerfully until He first wounds him. The wounds He afflicts on them eventually become ranks of honor which He gives to them as they pass His test of suffering. Abraham suffered temporarily when God told him to sacrifice his son. When he passed this test of suffering, He was declared the Father of many nations. This was something Abraham had to go through just for God's kingdom to Advance. When God wants to do something new on earth, He first demonstrates it prophetically through a man on earth before it can be established. It always costs these men to be used. This action of sacrificing Isaac was a prophetic demonstration of God's will to send Jesus to die for the Sin of the world. It was necessary that a man passed through this test of suffering in order for Jesus to come; if not the coming of Jesus would not be possible. He also went through the suffering of leaving his family and homeland just to obey God; and thereby run the risk of being killed in the wilderness by thirst, hunger or men.
Paul prayed to know the "Fellowship of His suffering." What suffering is He talking about. First of all, Paul was not talking about the suffering of sickness, poverty, the curses and consequences of sin, struggles in life etc. Jesus explained what Paul was crying for or what Paul meant by suffering in Matthew 16:24-25.
"Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it."
When we talk about suffering, we are talking about what it will cost you to see the kingdom of God advance in your time. It cost the man Jesus everything to fulfill the will of God. It cost Him even His own life. "Fellowship of His suffering" means suffering the pain of self-denial in order to advance the kingdom of God. It means forsaking your dreams temporarily or even permanently in order to see God's dream fulfilled. It means getting involved in spreading the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ at all cost. It means giving your all - your energy, your money, your convenience, your time - in order to advance God's kingdom through the spreading of the gospel.
Denial of self is the surest way of showing God that He is more important to you than anything else. That's why I believe God chooses to use it as a test and a prerequisite for glorifying men.
The fellowship of His suffering is a pain every believer must go through if he will ever rule with Christ. The price for rulership in the kingdom is partaking in the fellowship of the suffering of Christ. It is called "fellowship of His suffering" because you are not the only one involved in this suffering. Many Believers that have gone ahead of us have already partaken of the suffering.
For Jacob to step into his highest calling as Israel, God had wound him before blessing Him.
Genesis 32:24-28
24) "And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.
25) And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him.
26) And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.27) And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.
28) And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed."
Why must God wound Jacob before blessing Him. That's His way of lifting men. Following Jesus must cost you something if you want to rule with Him. The price or cost of following Him is nothing compared with the glory of His rewards. It's like paying N10 to receive a Range Rover Jeep.
When you suffer to advance His kingdom, you show Him that He is the most important person and thing in your life. This pleases Him and He rewards you handsomely.
To prove to you again that suffering is God's way of testing men and eventually glorifying them, In Acts 9:15-16, Jesus was instructing Ananias to go and pray for Saul of Tarsus who later became Paul the apostle. He made a statement that is shocking to people that lack understanding.
He said He would show Paul many things that he "MUST" suffer for His name's sake. Many religious people thought that Jesus wanted Paul to suffer because of what he had done to the church as Saul of Tarsus. If that is so, now that Paul is a new creation in Christ, why didn't the old things pass away? When God calls a man, He justifies that man. The word justification means "You never did what the Devil is accusing you of." Job was used of God in his time, yet he suffered. Did he do anything wrong to God? No! So this proves that this is something every believer was ordained to go through in order to be lifted. Now look at Paul's life. You will see the glory that God blessed him with in spite of the suffering. Paul exercised so much dominion that people called him a god (Acts 14:11); Demons acknowledged the fact that they knew him (Acts 19:15); sicknesses disappeared at his command (Acts 14:8-10); clothes that they used to touch him cast out demons and healed the sick (Acts 19:12); God took him on journeys where he saw things that he was commanded not to share with any man (2 COR. 12:4); Glory to God!
He so had a revelation of Christ's suffering that he encouraged the church and his son in the Lord, Timothy, to partake in it because of the great blessings that will follow - Rulership on earth in this time and in the ages to come.
2 Tim. 2:12
"If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us."
The mother of James and John came to ask Jesus a favour to grant her sons rulership in Christ's kingdom. Read Jesus' response to her in Matthew 20:20-23.
Matthew 20:20-23
20) "Then came to him the mother of Zebedee's children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him.
21) And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom.
22) But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able.
23) And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father."
Jesus confirmed the fact that it would cost them a lot to reign with Him in life and in the world to come. There is a suffering you must suffer in order to move the kingdom of God forward. It would cost you everything. It would cost time consecrated in prayers; it would cost you your money (a lot of it). People spend a lot to campaign for political appointments and election because they know the benefits of ruling over a state or a nation which only lasts for a tenure of 4 years or at most 8 years. You think it would cost you nothing to rule over life and the world to come with Christ forever and ever? When Pastor gives instructions on what we should do to advance the cause of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, get involved and carry your own cross. See to it that the work is accomplished! This is your gateway to glory.
In Galatians 6:17, Paul said that he bears on his body the marks of the Lord Jesus. Do you bear the marks, signs of sufferings, of Jesus? What have you done for Jesus that cost you all? Start doing something for Him. Take your ministry, your cell fellowship etc to the next level. Take your giving to the Lord to the next level. Do something radical for Him that will advance His kingdom and make men come into His kingdom en mass and He will glorify you! It will cost you to follow Jesus! Many were called but few were chosen. The chosen ones were the ones that suffered with Him - The ones persecuted for righteousness sake; The ones killed for His sake; those that paid the price to learn of Him and His ways (Jesus called it a yoke in Matthew 11:29); those that shunned the world and lived a life of righteousness; those that consistently and sacrificially financed the preaching of the gospel; those that preached the word in season and out of season etc.
DISCUSSION.
- From what you have learnt, what can you say it has cost you to advance the kingdom of God?
- What can you say you gained from such suffering?
- What do you intend to do, so that you will also bear on your body the marks of Christ?
