Suffering - A Different Perspective

This morning I am reading from Paul's letter to the Philippians 1:27-30 NIV

[27] "Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel [28] without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved---and that by God. [29] For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him, [30] since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have."

This is clearly another one of those sets of verses where it is much more comfortable to stop after reading the first two.  I love the fact the fact that Paul doesn't candy-coat things.  He recognizes that there is legitimate struggle and difficulty in pursuing a life devoted to Christ.  This is just something I don't like to hear.  I want to hear about all the glorious and awesome stuff, not the difficulty and struggle, opposition or persecution.  Verse 29 is particularly unpopular in my mind - being granted the opportunity on behalf of Christ to suffer for Him.  Now is a good time to look to the Greek and see what Paul was saying.  The word that is translated suffer is the Greek word Pascho, which is defined as follows:

1) to be affected or have been affected, to feel, have a sensible experience, to undergo
a) in a good sense, to be well off, in good case
b) in a bad sense, to suffer sadly, be in a bad plight

Now the majority of times it is used in scripture it is translated suffer or suffering (39 out of 40) the other time it is translated endure. It is interesting how different that could read if we used the first definition.  The word used for 'believe' could also be translated entrust oneself, and the word translated 'granted' could be also translated to do someone a pleasant favor.  I am no linguist, nor do I read Greek at all, but it strikes me at times that things could be translated significantly different.  Replacing the existing translations with those I just listed, verse 29 would read - for you have received the pleasant favor, on behalf of Christ, not only to entrust yourself to Him, but in addition to that to be affected or changed by Him.

I believe the reason we receive the negative version of the translation is that Paul is speaking about being in chains in the earlier part of the chapter, and follows up the sentence talking about a struggle.  The word translated struggle, is actually the word Agon and it indicated something like the Olympic games, in other words not necessarily a negative struggle but rather a contest of significance, for a national prize. Wow, that whole section could sure read differently.

The point of all of this, is not so much that we are going to have to suffer, per se, but that our life in Christ is going to take effort, its going to challenge us and change us.  We will be changed; we will have to work hard; we will need to persevere.  All of those things apply to  both difficulty and to accomplishing great things.  Olympic champions don't achieve that level of success without sacrifice and great effort, in the same way that those who are pressing through difficult circumstances don't get to the other side without effort and sacrifice.

Recently the theme of my study has been repentance, and that is exactly what Paul is talking about here, but at a deeper level.  The sense I get is that Paul is saying that following Christ will affect us to our core.  We will be changed, and we will have to sacrifice.  Jesus talked about denying oneself and taking up our cross and following Him daily (Luke 9:23).  that sounds exactly like these two verses from Paul.  We will all be given the opportunity to lay down our lives, to press into Christ Jesus and see our lives changed by this pursuit.

None of this is bad, for in the process we become like Him, the greatest human who ever lived.  However, we will have to sacrifice.  The one who would be an Olympian must exercise, must work diligently, must manage their diet, must often times go somewhere to train leaving family behind, all of which in the end are worthwhile for the glory of the prize.  As Christians, our prize is Christ and eternal life.  Our efforts are worthwhile, even more so than an prospective Olympian.  If someone was chosen to be part of the Olympic team, we would see that as being granted a hugely favorable opportunity.  We have been given a better opportunity in Christ!  We are encouraged to live a life worthy of our calling, worthy of our prize. We are encouraged to help each other achieve that prize.  We are encouraged to not fear the opposition (Phil 1:28), but to focus on the prize, that for which Christ Jesus took hold of us (Phil 3:12-14).

Wow, I don't feel nearly so bad about those verses now!

Lord, I pray that You will help me to live a life worthy of my calling, to pursue You above all else.  Help me to be willing to lay down my life and take up the challenge of becoming like You.  I know the effort, the struggle and work will be worth it in the end!  What a glorious opportunity we have!