Suffering, the why of
Beloved brothers and sisters,
Loving greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ.
You're probably thinking the title to this letter sounds
presumptuous; so let me rephrase it: I know the "why" of MY suffering.
I could never understand the why of the trials and sufferings
of others, but I can empathize with them.
You often hear people ask, "Why did this happen to such a good
brother? He was a pillar of his ecclesia. I just don't understand why God would
take him from us in his prime?"
The attitude of Job was, "I've done everything required and
then some. Why should I suffer like this? I have served God, and suddenly I've
lost every thing. And now I've lost my health."
We've all heard or said, "She didn't deserve that. That's not
fair."
We all know that scripture tells us that we must suffer for
Christ, and life just isn't fair. Our reward will be the Kingdom. No explanation
is needed there. We accept this on the intellectual level and move on.
But... why me?
God and His Son loved me enough to make me suffer.
I now know (on the experience level) that God loves me and
counts me one of His servants worthy of a fellowship of suffering. I hope and
pray that this does not sound egotistical, or that I have ascended to some
higher and loftier spiritual plane above others. It certainly doesn't mean:
"once saved, always saved"! It just means that one person's faith has
grown.
I now understand what Paul means by "we preach Christ
crucified... Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God." I understand "the
old man is crucified with him." I understand now "I am crucified with Christ:
nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I
now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and
gave himself for me." I understand now by experience the suffering and faith of
those worthies mentioned in Heb 11. The suffering and self-sacrifice of our Lord
and the apostles is a reality for me.
The Atonement
When our Lord was crucified, the Atonement was demonstrated.
He lived to do his Father's will. He was perfectly obedient, and he crucified
the flesh daily. The cross was the crowning demonstration of the
Atonement.
For the generations of those who couldn't witness those
glorious years of our Lord which culminated in his sacrificial death, God
graciously provided us the New Testament.
The Christadelphian community as a whole has strayed from the
principle of the Atonement. I'm not saying that there is complete failure, or
that there are not individuals who practice the principles of the Atonement.
What I am saying is that as a community we have failed.
We have spent endless hours formulating statements of faith,
explanations of statements of faith, explanations of the explanations, position
statements, highly detailed expositions and policies. We have had bitter
divisions in the body, which did not glorify God, nor did they honor the
principles of the Atonement.
Let me say here that a statement of faith is important, that
expositions are important, that agreement on these principles is important. What
I am saying is that all sides have been wrong in all of these controversies.
Granted, somebody is ultimately "right," but it is God who should have been
shown to be right. When did that ever happen?
This contemporary example should suffice to illustrate what I
mean by living the Atonement.
A sister, some years ago, donated a kidney to her brother,
whose kidneys had failed. His transplanted kidney began to falter recently and
he needed another transplant. This time his son donated his kidney to save his
father. This is an example of living the Atonement. The son honored both his
natural father and his Heavenly Father. The son was probably not able to give
any detailed exposition of the Atonement -- but he lived it.
I now know the why of suffering for me. He loves me enough to
make me suffer so that my faith may grow toward the end that I will be in His
Kingdom. This has given me a "peace that passes all understanding,"
I can wholeheartedly thank Him for His love and grace toward
me. No matter the outcome, I am at peace.
Suffering is about self-sacrifice, "crucifying the flesh." It
is about giving of time, money, talents and personal resources until it becomes
a true self-sacrifice.
This isn't about me. It's all about God. So, I am at perfect
peace with whatever comes.
With peace, love and grace to you all,
Gary Burns
[After a long and difficult struggle, brother Gary Burns died
of leukemia at the age of 56.]
