Obedience Through Suffering

 

Hebrews 5:7-8
“During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, He offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverent submission. ⁸Although He was a son, He learned obedience from what He suffered…”

Did you see the deeper truth in these verses? First, Jesus provides a clear example of what a man of prayer is. He not only prayed, He prayed with passion and reverence. Verse 7 tells us that He prayed with such intensity that His prayers included loud cries and literal tears. That is intense.

In Luke 22 it says that Jesus prayed so hard that He sweat drops of blood. I can’t think of anything more intense.

But quite frankly, that doesn’t shock me from Jesus. He is all God and all man. He came to save the world and be a mediator between God and mankind. That needs intensity and reverence. So that is not shocking at all. The fact that God heard His prayer is not surprising. Jesus is praying to the One who is able to save Him from death. Here is the big surprise – although God heard His prayer, He waited!

Jesus, God’s one and only Son, still had to endure suffering and death even though God heard His prayer. Look at verse 8 again. “Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from what He suffered”(Hebrews 5:8). That is crucial to know as a follower of Christ. By God’s power, Jesus rose from the grave and lives today. God saved His Son from death. Where, oh death is your sting? However, He did it after death. It wasn’t before the betrayal, the mocking, the suffering; it was after all of those trials.

Do you understand what that means for us? The reality is that God may hear our prayers, and He may still ask us to endure suffering in obedience. He did that with Jesus, why not us?

This changes the way I look at prayer, suffering, and even answers to prayer. The big question we have to face is simply, “Are you willing to learn obedience through suffering?” Is your prayer life marked with the kind of reverence that means you will do whatever He asks? What if God doesn’t answer your prayer the way you want Him to?

This really puts a new light on Hebrews 4:14-16. “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."

Receiving mercy and finding grace to help us in our time of need does not always mean that you will not have hardship or avoid suffering. It does mean that His power and presence are made perfect in our weakness, and we can endure anything in obedience – by His power.

Starting this Sunday, I will begin a new series entitled, “Fresh Faith.” We will look at the story of Joshua facing the walls of Jericho. Bring your story to church and let God fill it with His faith as we look at His Word.  Begin today and ask the Lord to give you a fresh faith that is willing to do anything He calls you to do without complaining.

May you glorify the Lord in your day no matter what circumstance you find yourself in. He will make a way for you to live above the trials and through the victory, one decision at a time.

Joy in Jesus!

Pastor Mike