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Missionaries: God Uses Your Suffering to Minister to Others
Hope for Our Sufferings
Paul writes to the Philippians, “My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith” (Phil. 1:23–25).
Paul longs for his final rest and glory with Christ. He has grown weary of this fallen world. But he also knows he can’t minister to the Philippians if he “departs” the world to be with Christ, so he sees his suffering as worthwhile. Our suffering is worthwhile, too, as it’s the price we pay for remaining and doing ministry in this fallen world.
We instinctively understand how Paul’s towering list of sufferings played a role in God’s plan, but we tend to have less hope for our own sufferings. After all, in light of Paul being beaten, imprisoned, shipwrecked, stoned, and finally martyred, our own sufferings don’t seem to merit much mention. What’s more, Paul’s sufferings were often caused by people who opposed his ministry. In contrast, our own sufferings seem more pedestrian, more “ordinary.” We suffer from loneliness, interpersonal conflict, sickness, exhaustion, and the slow decay of our bodies. But these sufferings, too, if we offer them to God, are a sacrifice through which God acts to redeem the world. They’re the price tag attached to being in the world so that we can minister to the world.
Persecution in Missions
Matt Rhodes
Sharing more than a decade of experience serving unreached people groups, Matt Rhodes helps Christians endure suffering with joy by offering a scriptural view of its role in the Christian life and in the missionary task.
All our sufferings—both large and small—can be offered as sacrifices to God. As Christ’s own sufferings included not only dying so that others might live but also leaving his heavenly glory behind and becoming poor so that others “by his poverty might become rich” (2 Cor. 8:9), so, too, we can suffer for Christ not only by dying but also by being “unknown,” “sorrowful,” and “poor, yet making many rich” (2 Cor. 6:9–10). The New Testament uses language of sacrifice to describe not only the martyrdom of believers (Phil. 2:17; 2 Tim. 4:6) but also their imprisonment (Col. 1:24), rejection (Heb. 13:15) , and sharing of their belongings (Phil. 4:18).1
Your sufferings, too—however large or small they may be—will play a part in the working out of Christ’s victory. Each sorrow you suffer, each disappointment, grief, rejection, bereavement, separation, sickness, or pain is a specific price that you pay for living in this dark and broken world in which Christ has called you to be a light (Matt. 5:16).
Missionaries, you may pay a steeper price by being among the people you minister to. But the same is true for you—whatever persecution you may face or suffering you may endure as a result of your ministry is given to God as a sacrifice: distance from family, cultural disorientation, persecution, unfamiliar diseases, long years of language learning, living in impoverished or unsafe circumstances. It’s all part of the price tag for being among the people you minister to.
A few months ago, my wife, Kim, realized that a close friend was stealing from her. It was a devastating discovery because she dearly loved this friend. And then, that very night, in an unrelated incident, our house was robbed and everything of value was taken. The robbery came only two weeks after a neighbor was stabbed to death in his sleep by thieves, so it was concerning that the thieves had clearly cut their way through a screen door in one room with one of the large knives that local men carry. What would have happened if we’d been in the room they robbed? About a week later, police found most of our belongings but said they couldn’t return them until we paid an enormous sum they claimed to owe their informant. First stolen from by a friend, then robbed at night, and finally extorted by the police, we struggled to trust anyone around us. And then Kim said softly, “This is why we came here, isn’t it? To speak Christ’s message to people who steal and lie because they don’t know him?” There’s nothing particularly impressive about what Kim and I went through. We weren’t robbed by angry extremists who hated our message. We took no courageous stands for Christ during the robbery. We didn’t even know it was happening! And we got almost everything back. Still, we were able to offer this difficulty and others like it to God. If we continue to do so willingly, we know he will be pleased with our sacrifice. Whether the price you pay to be among those you minister to seems impressive or not, it’s a sacrifice that you can offer to God.
Enacting Christ’s Victory
There is another way that God uses our sufferings to minister to others. He uses the hardships that we endure, those that are “ordinary” and ministry-related, to reveal the truth of the gospel to people around us. Paul writes to the Corinthians:
We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’s sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you. . . . For it is all for your sake. (2 Cor. 4:8–15)
Whatever persecution you may face or suffering you may endure as a result of your ministry is given to God as a sacrifice.
Christ’s sufferings were a sort of dark street theater intended by both Roman and demonic authorities to intimidate people. But there is another, deeper sense in which the sufferings of God’s people serve as a theater. As the Corinthians see Paul’s suffering, they also see supernatural strength sustaining him. God’s resurrection power is “manifested” in the way he is not crushed, driven to despair, forsaken, or destroyed (2 Cor. 4:8). Paul is enacting the gospel message before their eyes, giving them visible evidence of a God who can raise both Christ and them from the dead. That’s why, as we saw above, Paul can say elsewhere that his sufferings give off the “aroma of Christ” and act as a “fragrance from life to life.” He wants us to know that his sufferings carry an aroma of Christ’s resurrection life that is strong enough to lead to knowledge of God and new life “among those who are being saved” (2 Cor. 2:14–16).
Paul has something similar in mind when he says God “exhibited” his sufferings as a “spectacle to the world” (1 Cor. 4:9). Paul isn’t feeling sorry for himself and complaining that God made his life into a bizarre sideshow of suffering. Instead, the Greek word theatron that the ESV renders “spectacle” is translated as “theater” in its other two New Testament occurrences (Acts 19:29, 31). Paul’s point, then, is that his sufferings, which the Corinthians have seen as a sign of weakness and foolishness (e.g., 1 Cor. 1:18–2:5; 4:10–13), are actually a theater through which God is putting the wisdom and power of the cross on display (1 Cor. 1:23). He mentions his sufferings not to shock the Corinthians but to remind them to imitate him and his “ways in Christ” and not continue in their arrogant disdain of his weakness (1 Cor. 4:16–18).2 Again, this display of God’s resurrection power happens not only in sufferings like persecution that are obviously “spiritual” or ministry-related but also in the daily, “ordinary” sufferings. Paul’s thorn in the flesh is simply a physical ailment, yet he tells the Corinthians that Christ’s resurrection power is revealed and released through it: Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. (2 Cor. 12:8–9) How important is this in ministry, especially on the mission field?
The revelation of God’s resurrection power in our sufferings is essential. It is through “fear of death” (Heb. 2:15) that Satan enslaves and blinds people. The display of God’s resurrection power in our sufferings sets them free from this fear. Our sufferings, like Paul’s, are ultimately “for [the] sake” of others (2 Cor. 4:15) because they allow us not only to tell people the truth of the gospel but also to show them that truth.
Those of us who serve as missionaries can trust that God will use our sufferings. We go overseas not only declaring the gospel but also demonstrating and enacting its power. This is how mission fields are won.
Notes:
- In Hebrews 13:15, “Sacrifice of praise” (thusian aineseōs) is a reference to Old Testament thank offerings in Lev. 7:12–15. Thus, the author of Hebrews is telling his readers to follow Jesus “outside the camp” (Heb. 13:13) and to offer “a thank offering, the fruit of lips that confess [homologeō] his name” (Heb. 13:15, my translation). In the context of a letter encouraging suffering believers to “hold fast our confession [homologia] (Heb. 4:14; cf. 10:23), Hebrews 13:15 is telling believers that as a thank offering, they must endure whatever suffering might follow from confessing their faith. Sharing, in Hebrews 13:16, is to be understood in light of going outside the camp to pursue a city that is to come (Heb. 13:13–14). The Greek word here, koinōnia, is found in only one other place in Hebrews, where it speaks not of sharing material goods but of being partners with those who are being persecuted (Heb. 10:33).
- The Greek word, apedeichen, is curiously translated “exhibited” here in the ESV, leaving Paul claiming that he has been “exhibited” as a “spectacle.” This translation may leave most English-speaking readers imagining that God’s intent is to shock people. But in its other uses, apedeichen is simply rendered “attested” (Acts 2:22), “prove,” (Acts 25:7) and “proclaiming” (2 Thess. 2:4).
This article is adapted from Persecution in Missions: A Practical Theology by Matt Rhodes.
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