Fellowship of His Sufferings

This week we continue with our conversation Fight for Joy digging deeper into Philippians 3:10 where Paul writes, "That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death." As Christians we certainly understand the desire to know Christ more intimately and cheer at "the power of His resurrection." How does "the fellowship of His sufferings" fit with knowing Christ?

"Sufferings" includes several categories. First and foremost Paul has in mind the hardships and persecutions encountered because of following Christ. Paul reminds Timothy, "all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution" (1 Timothy 3:12). Paul is writing Philippians from prison on account of his following Christ (Philippians 1:7). In addition to physical hardship and suffering is emotional hardship for the sake of the gospel. Just like Jesus experienced loneliness in the garden the night of his betrayal (Matthew 26:40) so Paul was alone in prison abandoned by fellow Christians (Philippians 1:15-16 and 2 Timothy 4:11). Paul also experienced the suffering of physical affliction he refereed to as a "thorn in the flesh" (2 Corinthians 12:2-8).

Pastor John Piper has written an excellent short book entitled Don't Waste Your Cancer. In this book he shows how the suffering of cancer can lead to fellowship with Christ. You can download a free PDF of this book for print or as an ebook here. I also include a link to purchase this book below. While looking for the link to Piper's book I stumbled across the following testimony of Everett Wallace given at a college outreach meeting at  Indiana State University. His testimony begins 9 minutes into the video.

Don't Waste Your Cancer By John Piper / Crossway Books & Bibles * How are we called to respond when a life-threatening illness invades our bodies or those of our loved ones? On the eve of his surgery, Piper candidly writes of his prostate cancer and gently affirms that if we don't see our trials as opportunities, we will be blind to God's good plan for us. 16 pages, softcover from Crossway.