Sanctification and Suffering

Order of Service

• Scripture Reading — Philippians 1:27-30
• Sermon
• Pastoral Prayer

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Sermon Title: Sanctification and Suffering

Scripture: Philippians 1:29

I. Suffering as a Gift

A. Paul presents faith and suffering as paired gifts from God in Philippians 1:29

1. Both faith and suffering are granted by God for the sake of Christ
2. This gift is connected to taking up one's cross and following Christ

B. The gift of suffering is rooted in Genesis 3:14-15 — the foundational pattern of redemptive history

1. God places enmity between the seed of the woman (God's children) and the seed of the serpent (Satan's spiritual offspring)
2. This is a spiritual distinction, not a physical one — seen in John 8 where Jesus calls the Pharisees children of the devil
3. The pattern plays out immediately in Genesis 4–5: the genealogy of the seed of the serpent through Cain culminates in Lamech (Genesis 4:23); the genealogy of the seed of the woman begins with Seth (Genesis 4:25) and culminates in righteous Noah

C. The gift of suffering is a mark of sonship

1. Genesis 3:22 — God's act of excluding man from the garden is not judgment alone but grace; God sets his covenant of grace in motion to win back his people
2. God's children are placed at war with sin and evil; the suffering that results from that battle is the mark of belonging to God
3. David in Psalm 32 illustrates this: the pain of losing a battle against sin ("my bones are wasting away") is evidence of enmity with sin — a mark of grace
4. The opposite is seen in Romans 1:32 — the seed of the serpent not only practices evil but approves of it; there is no enmity with sin
5. John Owen's The Mortification of Sin illustrates this experientially: hating one's sin painfully is evidence of growing love for God
6. As Luther said, believers are simultaneously sinner and saint until glory; we should be concerned if we feel no pain over our sin

II. Suffering as a Christian

A. Paul's context in Philippians 1:27-30 is persecution and the threat of death — but Christian suffering is not limited to persecution and martyrdom

B. James 1:2-4 broadens the category: "trials of various kinds" encompasses all sorts of afflictions, not only martyrdom

1. The Puritan Thomas Manton on James 1:2-4: it is wrong to think that the comforts of the gospel apply only to martyrdom; our union with Christ means Christ is touched by all our afflictions
2. 1 Timothy 2:1-2 — Paul prays for peaceful conditions under governing authorities so the church may live quietly; he did not require constant persecution as the mark of Christian faithfulness

C. Christian suffering has a corporate dimension — Galatians 6:2

1. "Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ"
2. Suffering is not only individual; weeping with those who weep and sharing the burdens of fellow believers is itself a form of Christian suffering

D. What makes general suffering distinctly Christian suffering?

1. General suffering (death of a loved one, sickness, family difficulties) is shared by believer and unbeliever alike
2. Hebrews 4:15 — Christ was tempted in every respect yet without sin; his refusal to sin intensified his suffering rather than alleviating it
3. Satan's lie: general suffering can be relieved by giving in to sin
4. Job illustrates this: his sufferings were general tragedies, and Satan's strategy was to use them to turn him from God; Job's wife embodies the seed of the serpent in urging him to "curse God and die"
5. The same temptation appears in modern existential philosophy (e.g., Nietzsche's declaration that "God is dead" was offered as comfort — removing God from the picture was supposed to make suffering more endurable); there is nothing new under the sun
6. General suffering becomes Christian suffering when we cling to God's promises in the midst of it:
   • Romans 8 — nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ
   • Our present sufferings are a light and momentary affliction compared to the weight of glory that awaits
   • "When I am weak, then I am strong" — 2 Corinthians 12:10
   • "Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God" — Matthew 4:4

E. Suffering transforms doctrine from abstract truth into personal, life-sustaining truth

1. Before marriage, Ephesians 5 can be appreciated academically; suffering in marriage makes it a lived, personal reality
2. Before having children, Proverbs' instruction on child-rearing is known in theory; the difficulty of parenting makes those truths essential
3. A father's cancer diagnosis transforms passages on heaven and eternal life from general truths into truths one must personally depend on
4. If we are God's children, the suffering he places in our lives is never pointless — it makes the Word of God not merely an academic exercise but a life-giving word we truly depend upon