Fruitful Suffering (Good Friday)

[Read John 15:1-8]

There is one universal reality experienced by every single human being that has ever lived, and that is suffering. It is impossible to go through life without some form of suffering. Obviously, there are varying degrees of suffering, but everyone has suffered and will suffer at some point in their life. It's universal.

What's interesting to me is, even though everyone will experience suffering, we often don't really understand it. There are tons of books that have been written throughout history trying to help people understand and come to grips with suffering. As you go through the Psalms, you see repeated wrestling with suffering. You hear repeated questions like: Why am I the one who is suffering? Where is God when I'm suffering? or What's the point of all this suffering?

We want to know, don't we? We want to know if there's some purpose in our suffering or if it's all pointless. There's nothing more debilitating and frustrating and hopeless than pointless, meaningless suffering. It will suck the life out of you and leave you completely worn out and defeated.

On Good Friday, we learn a lot about suffering and we're reminded that Jesus Christ suffered. The Heidelberg Catechism helps us understand the suffering of Jesus by asking the question: "What do you understand by the word “suffered”?" This is in the context of Jesus' suffering. Here's how it answers the question: "That during his whole life on earth, but especially at the end, Christ sustained in body and soul the wrath of God against the sin of the whole human race." (HC Q&A 37). One of the things that I appreciate about this answer in the catechism is that it helps us understand the broader scope of Jesus' suffering. He not only suffered right before his death on the cross, but he suffered throughout his entire life. As Isaiah 53 tells us: He was despised and rejected by humanity. He was a man of sorrows. He was oppressed and afflicted. He was anguished in his soul. He suffered throughout his entire life.

But notice one important line in that statement, "but especially at the end." Jesus' suffering was something he endured throughout his entire life, but that suffering increased and peaked at the very end of his earthly life as he was beaten, mocked, spit on, and eventually hung on a cross. Even though we can hardly imagine the massive suffering he experienced in those moments, that wasn't the epitome of his suffering. The epitome of his suffering was the increasing weight of the wrath of God bearing down on him, increasingly throughout his life, getting heavier and heavier and heavier until it finally crushed him on the cross. This was a level of suffering that has never been experienced in human history.

Yet, we can still read this line from the book of Hebrews, “...for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame...” (Hebrews 12:2, ESV). How? How can anyone, even the Son of God, endure that level of pain and suffering with joy? How can anyone, even the Son of God, endure pain and suffering throughout their entire life, gradually increasing until the end, with joy? Here's the rest of the catechism's answer about Jesus' suffering: "This he did in order that, by his suffering as the only atoning sacrifice, he might deliver us, body and soul, from eternal condemnation, and gain for us God’s grace, righteousness, and eternal life." (HC Q&A 37). Jesus suffered this way for a purpose. His purpose was to bear the wrath of God so that his people would be delivered from God's wrath. His purpose was that his people would not only be delivered from the wrath of God, but would also receive God's grace and righteousness and life for all of eternity. That's how Jesus suffered with joy. You could say that Jesus suffered with joy because he knew his suffering wasn't meaningless. Jesus suffered with joy because he knew his suffering would bear fruit.

That's what leads us into tonight's passage. What fruit comes from Jesus' suffering? I've already mentioned some of this briefly. Some of the fruit that comes from Jesus' suffering is our initial salvation. Because of Jesus' suffering throughout his life, but especially at the end on the cross, all who look to him in faith will be forgiven of their sins and cleansed of their sins. That's powerful fruit. If Jesus wouldn't have suffered, there would be no forgiveness and cleansing of our sin, which means we would have no salvation and we would continue to suffer and languish under the weight of our own sins. But, since Jesus suffered, when we look to him in faith, we can be cleansed and forgiven and freed from our sins.

Also, when we look to Jesus Christ in faith, we are united to him. Last Sunday, Jesus talked about how the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit dwell within us by faith. Tonight, he uses a different analogy, that of a vine and the branches. This is also the fruit of Jesus' suffering, our union with him and deeply connected with that union with Jesus Christ is this negative statement: “...apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5, ESV). The picture here is that the branches only have life when connected to the vine. They have nothing apart from the vine--no life, no power, nothing. This means that anything we attempt to do apart from Christ is nothing or comes to nothing ultimately. It may seem like something for a while, but in the long run it's nothing. It's pointless/meaningless. Yet, because of Christ's suffering, and being united to him by faith, we have life and power and energy. The opposite is now true. Now, in Christ, everything has meaning and purpose. We read, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit...” (John 15:5, ESV). Whoever is in Christ, will bear fruit. Another way to say that is: For those in Christ, everything ultimately bears fruit in our lives. All things work together for our good.

Yet, this doesn't mean there will be no suffering for us. We get a little glimpse of this in this passage when we read, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” (John 15:1–2, ESV). Every branch that bears fruit will be pruned by the Father so that it will bear more fruit. Pruning is suffering. Pruning is cutting away part of yourself and parts of your life, which is why it hurts. Pruning is removing things you once held dear, things you loved, things you loved too much, things you placed your faith and trust in, which is why it hurts. Yet, we also know that the one doing the pruning isn't coming in willy nilly, randomly removing whatever he pleases, removing a little here and a little there without any purpose. No. That's not how the Father works. When he prunes, he is only removing parts of ourself and our lives that are keeping us from bearing fruit and keeping us from becoming more like Jesus Christ. If he is removing it, you know that it is ultimately for our good so that we would become more like Jesus Christ. Because of Jesus' fruitful suffering, we can have confidence that all of our suffering will also bear fruit. It will not be meaningless or pointless, but is being used by a faithful Father to shape and mold us into the image of Jesus Christ so that we would continue to bear more and more fruit with our lives.

This past week I was listening to a podcast by John Piper about the suffering of the Apostle Paul. When God called Paul into the ministry, here's what God said about him, “I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” (Acts 9:16, ESV). Paul's entire life and ministry were about suffering. How did he keep going on? How did he do it with joy? Here's what John Piper said that was so relevant to our Good Friday message this evening, "Paul knew that all of God's wrath had been absorbed by Jesus when he died. So, now there's no condemnation for Paul or for us in Christ. None of these horrible things that are happening to Paul are owing to God's wrath. What a relief! They were all part of God's Fatherly, loving, disciplining, ministry-advancing purposes for Paul for the church, for the world." (John Piper, Ask Pastor John: Your Suffering Is Not Meaningless). Because Jesus bore the wrath of God on our behalf, we can be confident that our suffering is not the wrath of God being poured out on us, but our suffering is a pruning by the Father. Because of Jesus' fruitful suffering, we can have confidence that all of our suffering will also bear fruit, not only a little fruit, but MUCH fruit.

This changes the entire nature of suffering in our lives. Admittedly, there are forms of suffering we will experience where we will have no idea the reason for it or the fruit that came from it. We don't need to know. What we need to know, and we can be absolutely confident of, is that in Christ our suffering is no longer meaningless but is now designed so that we would bear fruit. It's like training. We endure suffering when we know fruit will come from it. This past week, I went for a run and the wind was blowing 20 mph and then it began pouring down rain. It was miserable. I hated it, but I kept on going until I finished. Why? Because I knew that it would be good when I was done and it was doing something in me. Knowing that the suffering would bear fruit, helped me endure and finish the race.

Yet, tonight the reminder is even better than that. Knowing that our suffering is bearing fruit will definitely help us endure some of the most difficult and painful things we will experience in our lives, but that's still not enough. We also need to be connected to the one whose suffering bore ultimate fruit because apart from him we can do nothing. Apart from Jesus we will never endure even the smallest of difficulties. Yet, in Christ, when we look to him in faith and abide in him, we WILL bear much fruit and we WILL endure to the end and finish the race. It's not because of any power or ability we have in us, but only by the life and power that come to us from Christ. So, look to him in faith, trust him, and abide in Him.