The third phase of crucifixion and the highest form of suffering is to suffer on behalf of Christ.
1. What are we called to do? (Phil.1:29)
2. How can we expect the world to respond to us if we partake of His sufferings? (John 15:18-21; Luke 6:22-23)
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This is experiencing the fellowship of His sufferings.
3. If we experience this, what will happen? (Phil.3:10-11)
4. What does Peter exhort us to do when this happens? (1 Pet.4:12-13)
5. Why should we rejoice? (1 Pet.4:14)
This is the character of brokenness, to have the Spirit of Christ flowing through you so fully that the world attacks, not you, but the Spirit of Christ in you.
6. Christ was our example. Did He go through trials? (Heb.4:15)
7. How did Christ learn obedience? (Heb.5:8-9)
8. How was Christ made perfect? (Heb.2:10)
Can we expect to come into perfection (maturity) without this?
A. Copy out 1 Peter 2:18-23
9. Why did Christ leave us this example? (1 Pet.2:21)
10. What was God's approval? (1 Pet.2:19-20)
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11. What did Jesus do when going through these persecutions? (1 Pet.2:23)
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Did He try to get out of His trials to defend Himself?
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Paul also knew this. He did not try to escape his trials, but received them gladly from the hand of the Father.
12. Why? (Rom.8:17-18)
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13. What does Paul call the revelation of this glory in us? (Rom.8:19). This will happen when we are resurrected at Christ's return (Rom.8:21-23)
14. If you become faint and begin to become discouraged through trials, what should you remember? (Heb.12:3-7)
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15. If we do not experience such trials or discipline from the Lord, then what are we? (Heb.12:8)
16. Why does God discipline and correct us? (Heb.12:10)
17. If we yield to God's discipline, what will be the result? (Heb.12:11)
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B. Maxwell Droke, in his Legend of the Dogwood (Speaker's Special Occasion Book, pp.159-60, 1954) wrote: "At the time of the crucifixion the dogwood had been the size of the oak and other forest trees. So firm and strong was the tree that it was chosen as the timber for the cross. To be used thus for such a cruel purpose greatly distressed the tree, and Jesus, nailed upon it, sensed this, and, in His gentle pity for all sorrow and suffering, said to it: 'Because of your regret and pity for My suffering, never again shall the dogwood tree grow large enough to be used as a cross. Henceforth it shall be slender and bent and twisted and its blossoms shall be in the form of a cross -- two long and two short petals. And in the centre of each petal there will be nail prints, brown with rust and stained with red, and in the centre of the flower will be a crown of thorns, and all who see it will remember." In what way will our characters be matured, and how will our characters continue to witness of Christ, after we have endured suffering for His sake? In what way may one who has suffered for the Saviour be likened to the dogwood?
18. When we suffer persecution, what makes us worthy of the kingdom of God? (2 Thess.1:4-5)
19. Then what sayings will come true? (Rev.12:10)
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20. These are they that overcome. How did they overcome? (Rev.12:11)
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C. Helmuth von Molkte, international lawyer and land-owner, and an officer in German Intelligence, felt compelled to oppose a godless rule. He chose as a German Christian to fight the Nazi menace from within, indeed from the very centre of the 'nest of vipers'. Molkte felt that it was his duty to do more than console or bury those run over by a madman; he had to get out into the middle of the road and try to stop the car; but he was not prepared to shoot the driver. His religious scruples forbade him to connive in the plot on Hitler's life. Many Christian opponents of Nazism were also politically motivated and power-conscious. They wanted to preserve the privilege of the Church (Catholic or Lutheran), and self-interest was sometimes paramount. With Helmut it was his faith in God which was the mainspring of his resistance. It was Molkte's greatest victory at the trial that his prosecutors cried out in utter vexation, 'The trouble with you is that you are a Christian!' He was executed on 23 January 1945.
The time is coming when the whole of the world, during the Great Tribulation, will live under a New Age-Fascist dictatorship. If you find yourself called to witness within a ruthless, murderous system, as Helmuth Molkte did, how would you conduct yourself? How would you resist the system? How would you let your Christian faith shine out? How much would you be personally willing to endure for Christ's sake? Today is a preparation for the Great Tribulation -- are you resisting the world system? How are you doing it? What are you standing up against? Are you hiding in the shadows or making your faith known?
21. What promise do we have if we overcome? (Rev.3:21)
D. It was perilous to be a Christian in the early centuries of the Church yet many have died martyrs throughout the latter centuries. Yet even today many Christians have been "witnesses unto death" because they dared to live and speak their Christian faith in the face of overwhelming opposition. In the times to come, when Antichrist seizes power, it will be as perilous to be a Christian as it was in the first centuries of the faith. Though you may not be called to die for Christ, you may, and should be prepared for it. In any case, you are called to suffer for Him. How are you preparing for this time? How are you preparing your children? Just how deep is your faith in, and love of, Christ?
Let us then choose rather to suffer afflictions with the people of God, esteeming the reproach of Christ better than riches, and for the joy that is set before us, let us endure the cross, and sit down with Christ on the throne of God.
Write & memorise the following scripture: Philippians 3:10-11
