In Christ I Am Afflicted Part 1

In Faithfulness You Have Afflicted Me

Author: Elaine Brown

Mark Driscoll wrote (2013) “Who Do You Think You Are? Finding Your True Identity in Christ” No matter what you might think of Mark Driscoll (he did kind of become a bad boy), this is a great book. Mark divides the book into 14 “In Christ I am” statements. Depending on whose book you read there can be more than one list of “In Christ I am” statements. I have my counselees read the book of Ephesians and come up with their own list. Whether you use someone else's list or use the book of Ephesians it is important as a counselor that your counselee knows who they are in Christ. I have found that 100% of my counselees haven't got a clue who they are in Christ. Perhaps that is part of the reason they are in Biblical Counseling.

I was introduced to this book when I was a member at Coram Deo in Bettendorf. I was part of a group called “Alive and Free”. The group was started by one of the pastors who was a recovering alcoholic. Although I believe he had not had a drink in years, he started the group to reach out to people who were recovering from addictions and hurts. I asked him if I could be part of the group, of course, he said yes because I was going through so much trouble with my children. After my husband died, my children, one at a time, did not speak to me off and on for over 11 years. I did not meet their expectations of what a mother should be. This book, which is biblical, helped me to see who “I am In Christ”. It saved my life. I was part of this group until I moved to Marion.

The Apostle Paul wrote the book of Ephesians from prison in Rome (60-62 AD). God used Paul's afflictions to grow him for the good of others.

Why did Paul write the book of Ephesians? This is a letter of encouragement and admonition, written to remind believers of their immeasurable blessings in Jesus Christ, and not only to be thankful for those blessings but also to live in a manner worthy of them. In order to live out God's will for us in our lives practically, we must first understand who we are in Christ doctrinally.

The scriptures start with “I am a created image bearer.” Genesis 1:26-27 “26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” Our identity is simply to reflect the image of the God who created us.

The focus of this article will be just on one of the 14 “In Christ I am” statements in the book, I Am Afflicted. What, Afflicted?! I thought being a Christian was going to be stress-free, drama-free, etc. Sorry folks that is not Biblical. Being a Christian isn't always easy.

If you are a Christian, there will be times in your life that are hard. People will make fun of you, think less of you, or even verbally and physically assault you, just because you are a Christian. Your children might give you a lot of trouble after you sacrificed a lot to raise them. We can all fill in the blank, “I am afflicted because...” As a Christian, you will expect to experience some level of affliction in your life. We are not greater than Jesus and should expect the same hatred he faced as we live our lives for him. I have experienced hatred from my children.

I want to diverge from Ephesians for just a bit to look at a passage in Lamentations 3:22-23.

“22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; 23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”  This great declaration of God's great faithfulness was made in the context of severe affliction. The Jewish people were suffering at the hands of the ferocious Babylonian army. The author of Lamentations recognized that their affliction came directly from the hand of the Lord, who in afflicting his people, was being faithful to His word. Lamentations 2:17 “The Lord has done what he purposed; he has carried out his word, which he commanded long ago; he has thrown down without pity; he has made the enemy rejoice over you and exalted the might of your foes.” God promised punishment would follow disobedience for Israel, and it did. But God also promised future restoration and blessing and He delivered on that promise. No matter what affliction we face, we can find hope and comfort in knowing that His faithfulness is great and His love is unwavering.

Paul said the following verses through his affliction as God was faithfully delivering him from a greater danger than a demonic tormentor to keep him humble. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, “9 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. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

What a great witness we are to family, friends and unbelievers when in the midst of affliction we can be content and proclaim how good and faithful our God is just as Paul did.

We worship a God who came to earth and was afflicted. Jesus experienced a great deal of suffering. He was wrongfully arrested, beaten, verbally assaulted, tortured, and made to carry the very wooden cross to which he would be nailed, to die for you and me.

Not only has Jesus suffered. So, too, have those who have faithfully served him throughout history. Even today thousands of people around the world will die martyrs' deaths for their faith in Jesus Christ. Jim Elliot died on January 8, 1956. He was an American Christian missionary and one of five people killed during Operation Auca, an attempt to evangelize the Huaorani people of Ecuador. Less than three years later, the work of reaching the Waorani resumed. Jim’s wife and daughter, along with Nate Saint’s sister, Rachel, and three other wives of the murdered missionaries, moved to the Waorani village to live among the people who had killed their husbands, fathers, and brothers. According to Elisabeth Elliot’s account in The Savage My Kinsman (1961), many Waorani came to faith in Jesus Christ and now live in peace as a friendly tribe. In spite of the pain and suffering these martyrs endured, they lived for Jesus, because Jesus lived in them.

As we are suffering, we must think deeply about Jesus' suffering so we don't waste our suffering, but rather use it for God's glory. Our God didn't suffer so that we wouldn't suffer. He suffered so that when we do suffer, we can become more like him and point more people to him.

Sometimes, when we suffer, we are tempted to question whether God is good and even whether he's in control by asking, “Why?” Some of us do believe God is in control, but we don't believe he is good. We think God is cold, distant, and unable to comfort us. Others are tempted to believe God is good but that he's not in control. We create an image of God who doesn't want suffering in our lives, but who is powerless to stop it.

When we question God, we are left without help or comfort because our false image of him distorts who he really is. To question God in this way places us in a seat in which we were not meant to sit: the judge's chair.

When you're tempted to ask, “Why?” instead by God's grace, ask, “Who?”  Who is in control? Who is it that loves me? Who can I go to for help? Who are you trying to mature in Christ?

The “who” question does not seek answers from God as much as it seeks God himself. The “who” question seeks to grow in a deeper understanding of who God is and even who we are because when we're suffering, we need more than answers. We need God.

The Bible reveals that God is in control, and He is good. For those in Christ, this means that everything in life, including our suffering, either comes from or passes through His hands.

Genesis 50:20 states, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” We are all familiar with the story of Joseph and what he said to his brothers. When I read the story of Joseph, I don't see a bitter Joseph over his afflictions, I see a Joseph who understood God's hand in his story and that it was for the good of many people.

Even though following Jesus Christ doesn't mean that your life will be easy and pain-free, trusting in Jesus; who suffered for you, will empower you to endure any level of suffering you experience. Jesus didn't give up on you. He endured suffering to the point of losing his life for you. Since Jesus persevered and kept pushing through, in Christ, we too, can persevere and continue our pursuit of Jesus when we suffer.

When we are afflicted and experience a difficult time, we are given an opportunity to comfort others with the same comfort we have received from God. This is one of the many reasons we experience affliction in our lives: to comfort others.

2 Cor. 1:3-7, “3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. 6 If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. 7 Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.”

Suffering is one of God's ways for you to grow more into the image and likeness of Jesus. Don't waste your suffering. Allow God to use what you experience to speak into the lives of others. Point them to an eternal source of comfort in Jesus. He is the one who suffered and died for them and is able to fully identify and sympathize with them.

Rick Warren said, “Jesus wants to redeem your suffering. Redemptive suffering is when you use the pain you're going through to help other people. This is what my wife Kay and I have tried to do with the pain we feel from losing our son through suicide. In the years since Matthew's death, not a week has gone by without someone calling Kay or me and asking for help, because they know we've been through it and we're willing to share God's comfort with them. Who is better qualified to minister to a parent grieving the loss of a child than another parent who has experienced such grief? Who is better qualified to help someone with an addiction than someone who has also battled an addiction? Who is better qualified to walk with someone through a cancer diagnosis than someone who has fought their own cancer? Whatever pain you are suffering right now, God wants to use it to help others if you surrender it to Him.” (March 20, 2023 From Where is God When It Hurts)

Only by trying less to dissect and avoid our sufferings, instead embracing them as opportunities in Christ to grow, glorify God, and share the gospel, then we will begin to “not lose heart,” and instead find joy in our circumstances, whatever they may be. We cannot control our circumstances but we can control our response.

Ask for God's grace to help you face affliction in your life for your faith in Jesus.

Mark broke down affliction into 14 categories. This will come as part 2.