Fruit of Suffering

Suffering can produce a deeper experience of worship, because it deepens the character of the one who worships. Suffering is often the training ground for godly character. It has a way of exposing what's shallow and superficial in our lives. Suffering begins to burn away superficiality the moment the match of difficulty is lit and set among the embers of the events of our lives.

There's a second fruit of the suffering that touches our lives. It not only produces character within us that is capable of meaningful worship, but it also broadens our ministry of worship. Worship of Jesus Christ should be contagious. The book of exodus gives an account of the worship of Moses. He pitched his tent outside the camp away from the multitudes of people. There he met with God and worshiped Him. He called it the "tent of the meeting." He met with God and spoke with Him, and God spoke with Moses. It's interesting to note what happened in the lives of the people when Moses met with God. The Bible says, "When all the people saw the pillar of the cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would arise and worship, each at the entrance of the tent" (Exodus 33:10). When Moses worshiped God, the people worshiped God.

True worship will always attract a crowd. The congregation of Christians that has learned to worship from the depths of their hearts will attract people, because worship of God is one of the most basic needs of humanity. The individual who truly worships God will have opportunities to lead others to worship Him.

This is especially true among those who have suffered. The apostle Paul wrote, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort; who comforts us in all our affliction so we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God" (2 Cor. 1:3-4).

Christians have suffered throughout the ages. But suffering has always been the friend of the believer - not the enemy. The early church was persecuted. Every time a Christian was killed, it seemed as though there were 10 new converts to Christianity. Suffering always tests the fabric of a person's worship. It brings out the worst or the best in the hearts of believers. When there is true, humble worship of God in the heart, there is an inward beauty that is inexplicable. Others will be attracted to worship the Savior.

Aside from the Bible, Pilgrim's Progress has been perhaps the best-selling Christian book of all time. Its author, John Bunyan, was a man who suffered greatly for his faith. Through his suffering, he encountered God in a sweet experience of worship. And he became a source of inspiration to scores of people throughout the world. He wrote concerning his imprisonment for preaching, "Before I went down to the justice, I begged of God that His will be done; for I was not without hopes that my imprisonment might be an awakening to the saints in our country. Only in that matter did I commit the thing to God. And verily at my return, I did meet my God sweetly in prison."

There seems to be a direct correlation between suffering, worship, and witness. Suffering deepens the experience of worship, and genuine worship broadens the witness of the Christian community. Friends of mine from the West who have traveled with me to Romania have made some interesting observations. One of those friends said to me, "I have always heard of the Christians who suffer for their faith in Romania. I think the suffering has produced a quality of worship and witness of which we in the West know very little. It seems as though the comfortable Christian in the West is really the one who is suffering. We suffer from the disease of superficiality in our worship and witness."

A final fruit of worship is produced in the individual who suffers. Suffering is accompanied by the glory of God. The final result of worship is the glory of God. It's wonderful that character is built through the struggles and hurts of life. It's even greater that we're able to comfort others as a result of our suffering. However, the single greatest goal of the life of the believer should be the glory of God, who is worthy of all the glory and all the honor and worship. Peter said, "If you're reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you" (I Peter 4:13).

Death is the final blow of suffering. It can't get worse than that. But death can't conquer the child of God. Death for the believer is simply graduation day from the school of worship. Billy Bray, a man of continual worship, faced life's ultimate test - death. A few hours before he died, an old friend asked him if he had any fear of death, or of being lost. He responded, "What? Me fear death? Me, lost? Why, my Savior conquered death. If I were to go down to hell, I would shout, 'Glory, glory, to my blessed Jesus,' until I made the bottomless pit ring again, and then miserable old Satan would say, 'Billy, Billy, this is no place for thee: get thee back.' Then up to heaven I should go, shouting, 'Glory, glory, praise the Lord!' " A little later, he passed into eternity. The last word to come from his lips on this earth was simply, "Glory!"

From the time of the first Christian martyr, Stephen, to the present day, Christians have worshipped God and beheld His glory during the difficult day of death. The Bible describes the moments prior to the death of Stephen, "But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; and he said, "Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man Standing at the right hand of God" (Acts 7:55-56)

Throughout the centuries, worshiping saints have seen the glory of God when they approached death's door. The great American evangelist Dwight L. Moody said on the afternoon of his death, "God is calling me. There's no pain. No valley. This is glorious." More recently, Martin Lloyd-Jones, the great British pastor, walked up to death's door. The day before he died he told his family, "Don't pray for healing. Don't try to hold me back from glory." He died the next day peacefully in his sleep.

Suffering can be a friend to the one who has learned to worship. There's no hurt physically, psychologically, emotionally, or spiritually that God doesn't understand. He loves us greatly, and He suffered greatly for us through the death of His Son, Jesus. When a true worshiper suffers, the door to the glory of God is opened to him. He enters into the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ. It is then that he's able to comprehend more fully the height and depth and breadth and width of the love of God. He learns to worship the worthy One in the midst of suffering.