Latest / Reformed Thinking / Missions and Suffering | Sinclair Ferguson

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Missions and Suffering | Sinclair Ferguson · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to Reformed thinking. We're here to really look
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closely at truths that shape our faith in our lives.
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And today we're inviting you to join us for a deep dive into
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something. Well, it's quite delicate, but
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also really significant for every believer.
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We're talking about the relationship between Christian
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missions and suffering. We'll be drawing on insights
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from a recent lecture by Sinclair Ferguson, along with,
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you know, various notes and articles.
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Our aim really is to help you get a clear, helpful
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understanding of this biblical pattern and see how it plays out
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for us living for Christ today. Yes, it's good to be talking
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about this. The the sources we're looking
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at, they make a compelling case. They argue that suffering isn't
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just some unfortunate side effect of God's work.
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It's actually presented as a central instrument God uses to
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advance His Kingdom. We'll look at how this idea
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appears all through Scripture, how it's well vividly
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demonstrated in the Apostle Paul's life, and how it keeps
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showing up throughout the history of the church.
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We really want to present this in a way that encourages your
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walk with Jesus, focusing your attention on his faithfulness
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through it all. OK, so let's focus in the core
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subject is suffering and how it seems intrinsically linked to
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Christian missions, to the spread of the Gospel.
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And you might find this challenging.
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I mean, that's understandable, right?
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It's not exactly a comfortable topic.
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No, it really isn't. It's a truly sensitive subject,
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and it's easy for someone teaching or preaching on this to
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maybe mishandle it. There's a risk, you see, that if
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you use powerful stories of suffering, especially from
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missions, it could just end up making believers feel guilty or,
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you know, inadequate. And that's absolutely not the
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point. If that's the message someone
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takes away, it's, well, it's contrary to authentic New
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Testament teaching. That's a really key distinction.
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Getting the message right, the heart behind it right, is vital
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to avoid any sense of, like you say, unbiblical condemnation.
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Precisely. You look at the apostles when
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they talked about their own trials, their own hardships,
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they weren't trying to make other believers feel bad.
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Their goal was encouragement. It was always pointing people
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back to the absolute faithfulness of Jesus Christ.
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When our focus stays fixed on the Lord Jesus himself, rather
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than just on the difficulty someone else faced it, it
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naturally stirs up a desire in us, a desire to do more for him,
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to serve him better, maybe to just have a greater affection
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for him. That perspective helps guard
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against misunderstanding it or applying it in unhealthy ways.
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It keeps the focus on Christ's sufficiency, not our failings.
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It's about seeing that God actually uses these situations
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for his own glorious purposes, and that our participation, even
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in hardship, is a privilege. And it is striking, isn't it,
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how often suffering shows up as a key component in the advance
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of God's Kingdom? One of the primary truths
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Scripture puts forward about suffering is that it's actually
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a gift from God. Now, that's probably not how we
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instinctively think about suffering, but it's a deeply
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biblical idea. A gift?
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Yeah, That sounds completely counterintuitive.
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Gifts are usually things we enjoy, things that bring
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pleasure or advantage. Not well, not hardship.
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Can you unpack that a bit? What does that really mean?
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And how can we even start to see suffering in that light?
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It's a challenging thought, absolutely, but it comes
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straight from Paul's writings. In Philippians Chapter 1.
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Paul says there that believers have received the gift of
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suffering just as they received the gift of believing in the
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Lord Jesus Christ. Same word gift.
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So this view really reshapes how we understand suffering.
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It shifts it from just being a burden to being a kind of divine
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provision. It's a gift not because the pain
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itself feels good, obviously not, but because of what God
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does through it. It has this unique way of
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refining our faith, making us depend more deeply on God,
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stripping away things we might rely on instead of Him.
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And often it puts us in a position to minister to others
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in ways that comfort just never could.
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Maybe think of it like painful packaging around profound
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spiritual growth, a tool God uses to equip us to make us
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learn more completely on His grace.
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It puts suffering right inside God's sovereign plan for His
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people and His mission, not as some random accident, but as a
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deliberate instrument for our good and His glory.
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The sources you mentioned also draw contrast between, say, past
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perspectives in Christian circles and current ones,
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specifically looking at discipleship with sacrifice
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versus this newer focus on leadership.
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That sounds like quite a shift in maybe evangelical culture.
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Can you elaborate on what that shift looks like?
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Yes, it's described as quite a noticeable change, apparently
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maybe 50 years ago in what some call the evangelical church.
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If someone didn't show a deep concern for world missions, it
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was almost seen as a sign of spiritual lacking.
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Young Christians sort of understood that belonging to
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Jesus Christ meant giving up personal choice about where they
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live, what they do, who they'd associate with.
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It meant being a disciple primarily through sacrifice.
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That was just a foundational understanding of the Christian
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life. Your own aspirations were kind
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of secondary to Christ's call to advance his Kingdom, often
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involving hardship. And now what's changed?
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What are the effects of this this different emphasis?
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Well, there's been this definite move towards using the language
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of leadership. We hear about parents training
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their children to be leaders of the next generation.
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We see institutions focused on leadership training rather than
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maybe focusing on service, sacrifice and being a bond
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slave. This shift, the sources suggest,
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has really swept through evangelical culture.
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Almost like an invasion is how one source put it.
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And subtly, it encourages us to think more in terms of titles,
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influence personal achievement within the church, which can
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potentially push aside at the very qualities Jesus modeled and
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called us to, you know, humble service and self denial.
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It might even change how we measure success, moving away
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from faithfulness and suffering towards maybe more visible
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impact or organizational growth. It's not just a change in words.
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It seems to reshape what we think it means to follow Christ.
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That does sound like a significant departure from how
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the New Testament typically talks about a believer.
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That phrase bond slave definitely doesn't evoke the
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image of a modern leader. No it doesn't.
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And the New Testament's main language for a Christian, for a
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follower of Jesus, is actually servant or slave, not leader.
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Paul himself says it plainly in 2nd Corinthians 4.5.
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He says we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as
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Lord. And then he adds, And ourselves
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your bond slaves for Jesus sick. He consistently called himself a
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bond slave for Jesus sake. It's a powerful term, not about
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forced servitude, but about a complete, willing, loving
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surrender to Christ. It signals this deep, permanent
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identification where Christ's desires come before any personal
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ambition. So this cultural shift we see,
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it subtly encourages thinking in terms of titles rather than the
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kind of lifestyle Jesus asked of us.
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And this whole subject, suffering and missions, it often
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feels like, well, like a dagger to the contemporary heart
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because it directly challenges this focus on leadership.
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We can become more interested in being leaders perhaps, and less
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interested in being sacrificial servants.
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It really presents a vital challenge to how we might think
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today, and it forces us to reconsider what true Christian
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discipleship looks like. That provides a really helpful
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frame for our deep dive today. It places this topic of
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suffering in mission within its wider biblical and cultural
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context. It helps to see not just what to
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look for in the sources, but maybe why hearing it might be
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challenging for us, right? So we've set the stage, placing
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this challenging idea of suffering in context.
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Let's now right to the heart of today's deep dive, what the
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sources call the Christ pattern. What exactly does that mean?
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It sounds foundational, like a blueprint for understanding how
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God works. It really is presented that way.
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The Christ pattern describes this deep, inherent connection
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between suffering and the advance of God's Kingdom.
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It's shown to be woven through the entire Bible, really, from
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Genesis right to the end. And it shows that suffering
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isn't just random or accidental. It's actually divinely designed
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for fruitfulness. It's presented as God's way of
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doing things from the very first promises right through to the
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end of the story, A consistent divine reality shaping how God's
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people experience life and the very beginning of this pattern.
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The sources point us back to Genesis 3.15, that first promise
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of the gospel. That verse talks about the
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conflict between the seed of the woman and the seed of the
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serpent. It signals right away that
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deliverance from darkness, overcoming Satan, reversing what
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Adam did. All of it will involve conflict
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and suffering from start to finish.
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It really lays the groundwork for everything that follows,
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setting up a principle that echoes all through redemption
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history. And that specific prophecy about
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the serpent bruising the heel of the woman's seed?
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That seems to speak directly to the cost involved in that final
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victory. Yes, it suggests that
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restoration, ultimate victory, it will come through shedding
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blood, through sacrifice. Our sources proposed that the
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whole Old Testament can be seen as a series of footnotes
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expanding on Genesis 3.15. It's described as being, in a
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sense, sprinkled with blood, sprinkled with sacrifice, and
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therefore sprinkled with suffering, because that's
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presented as the pathway to restoration and new life.
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It's not just a coincidence. It's shown as a consistent theme
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revealing God's sovereign method for bringing about His purposes.
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And Jesus himself, of course, illustrates this pattern
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perfectly In John chapter 12, verse 24, he says it clearly.
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Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it
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remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much
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fruit. This statement sometimes called
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a divine parabola. It beautifully captures his own
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path, doesn't it? Starting in heavenly glory,
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descending into the shame of incarnation in the cross, then
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rising to resurrected glory, bearing this incredible harvest
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of spiritual fruit. His own life is the ultimate
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picture of this pattern. And he also prepares his
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followers for the same pattern, doesn't he?
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Wasn't just for him, but for those who follow him, His
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disciples. He does think about his words to
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Peter in John 13, verse 7. What I'm doing you do not
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understand now, but afterwards you will understand.
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Quote. Those words apply just as much
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to the Old Testament Saints and to us today.
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They show that sometimes God's ways involve things we just
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don't grasp in the moment. We might not see the whole
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picture when we're in the middle of suffering, but understanding
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often comes later. Looking back, we can sometimes
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trace God's hand in our circumstances.
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It really calls us to trust His wisdom, even when our own view
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is limited. Could you give us a few specific
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examples from the Old Testament where we see this pattern
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playing out? It's helpful to see these
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principles at work even before Christ's arrival, showing how
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long standing this is in God's dealings.
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Certainly. Think about Joseph. 14 years of
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suffering, right? Betrayed by his brothers, sold
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into slavery, falsely accused, thrown in prison unjustly.
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But none of that was wasted time.
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His suffering shaped his character, deepened his reliance
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on God, and uniquely positioned him to interpret Pharaoh's
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dreams later on. And that led to Egypt being
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saved from famine, which ultimately saved his own family
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and countless others across the Mediterranean region.
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His story is such a powerful picture, a prefiguring of
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Christ's own suffering leading to a greater salvation.
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It shows how God works through adversity for widespread good.
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Or consider Naomi. Her experience was so bitter,
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losing her husband, both her sons and Moab.
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She comes back to Bethlehem and famously tells people to call
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her Mara, meaning bitter, because the Almighty had dealt
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very bitterly with her. And yet her deep sorrow was
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actually part of God's strategy, described as a little Gentile
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mission. It was through her apparent loss
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that Ruth, a Gentile woman from Moab, came back with her,
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entered the community of faith, and ultimately became part of
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the lineage of King David and Jesus Christ himself.
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So Naomi's personal hardship was a crucial part of God's larger
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redemptive plan. We also see this pattern clearly
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in the lives of the Old Testament prophets.
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Figures like Jeremiah, remember, thrown into a muddy cistern to
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die. Or, Isaiah, tradition tells us
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he was sawn into Elijah, had to flee for his life from Jezebel.
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Their messages were often unpopular, and they faced
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immense persecution and suffrage suffering because of it.
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But their lives highlighted the cost of speaking God's truth in
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a fallen world. And their personal trials, it
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suggested, help them begin to grasp the significance of the
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Messiah's future suffering. They started to understand
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prophecies like wounded for our transgressions and bruised for
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our iniquities. In a deeper way, perhaps their
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lives prepared the way for understanding the Messiah's
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path. And then you have passages like
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Isaiah 53. Just a stunning picture of the
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suffering servant he's given as a covenant to the people, a
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light to the nations. It clearly links his suffering
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with global outreach, with fruitfulness for the whole
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world. That whole section of Isaiah
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just resonates with this connection between Christ's
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suffering and the victory of his mission.
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Daniel Chapter 7 also gives us that picture of the Son of Man
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coming in glory to the Ancient of Days.
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But he comes from a situation of intense conflict where the
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Saints of the Most High have been nearly overcome.
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It reinforces that same idea. Glory follows suffering.
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God's people often endure hardship before the ultimate
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triumph. There's also that powerful image
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you mentioned from the painting The Shadow of Death.
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That visual really seems to capture this, stretching the
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pattern back in time. Yes, Holman Hunt's painting.
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It shows the young Jesus in the Carpenter shop stretching, and
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his shadow falls in the wall behind him in the distinct shape
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of a cross. It's a beautiful illustration of
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how the shadow of the cross is, you could say, pressed backward
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onto the Old Testament narrative, imprinting itself on
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those who belonged by faith to the one who would eventually die
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on that cross. It suggests that if you belong
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to Christ, the shadow in some way inevitably falls upon your
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life. To the sources suggest Jesus's
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own words and John 12.24 about out to the grain of wheat dying,
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cast their shadow backward across the whole Bible story and
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forward into the lives of God's people throughout history.
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It's presented as this pervasive truth affecting everyone called
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by his name. And even that that puzzling
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statement Paul makes in First Corinthians 15.29 about people
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being baptized on behalf of the dead, It can be understood in
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this light. It's not likely talking about
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some kind of vicarious baptism for salvation that's not taught
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elsewhere in Scripture. Rather, Paul might be
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highlighting the incredible conviction of the early
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Christians when believers were martyred, died for their faith.
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Others were so convinced of Christ's resurrection and the
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truth of the gospel that they would step forward to take their
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place. They'd be baptized publicly,
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identifying with Christ, even knowing it could mean death for
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them too, literally filling the ranks of those who had gone
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before. It shows they knew they were on
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the victory side with Jesus Christ.
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And because of that, the afflictions, the sufferings they
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faced, were all worthwhile for the gospel's sake.
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It was an act of profound faith and continuity, showing that the
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mission carries on even through martyrdom.
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OK, so we've seen this Christ pattern woven.
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Through scripture from. Genesis to the prophets even
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reflected in some of Paul's more complex arguments.
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And let's really zoom in on a powerful living example of this
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truth, the apostle Paul himself. His life seems presented as
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almost a walking demonstration of suffering for the Gospels
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advance. He certainly endured a lot.
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That's very true. Paul is described in our sources
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as a large scale working model for the whole Church of Jesus
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Christ right from the start. Remember his conversion?
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God told Ananias specifically that Paul will be shown what
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great things he must suffer for the sake of the gospel.
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So suffering wasn't some unfortunate detour in his
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ministry. It was presented as an integral,
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divinely appointed part of his mission.
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From day one. His calling and a life of
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hardship for Christ were intrinsically linked, and Paul
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seemed to understand this deeply.
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He understood that his life, his ministry activities were
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imprinted with the shadow of the cross falling forward into him.
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Why? Because of his deep union with
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the Lord Jesus Christ. His personal sufferings weren't
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random misfortunes. He saw them as a direct
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continuation, a manifestation of Christ's own suffering in the
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world. He wasn't just enduring
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suffering, he was actively living out the pattern of his
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Savior, finding his identity and purpose bound up in Christ's
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self giving love. That's a crucial way to look at
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it. It's one thing to suffer, quite
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another to see divine purpose in it, to grasp how it actually
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leads to fruitfulness. So how did Paul's suffering
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specifically result in life and growth for others?
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Well, one clear example is his suffering imprisonment in Rome
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that led directly to the conversion of Anessimus, the
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runaway slave mentioned in the letter to Philomon.
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It shows how God worked through Paul's confinement, his
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adversity, to bring about spiritual fruit right there in
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his prison cell. It illustrates God's divine
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economy, his often surprising way of working through what
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looked like setbacks to achieve His greater purposes.
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Paul states this principle very clearly in 2nd Corinthians 4
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verses 10 through 12. He says we who live are always
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being given over to death for Jesus sake, so that the life of
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Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
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So death is at work in us, but life in you.
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So his dying, his daily suffering, his willingness to
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face death directly led to spiritual life for others, a
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very clear connection, making him a conduit for Christ's life.
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Precisely Paul's participation in Christ's death, his
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suffering, was understood as the divine pattern for the church's
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fruitfulness and for individual fruitfulness too.
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He also explained how his awful weakness, and he connected this
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to the weakness in which Christ was crucified, flowed into his
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own life because of his union with Christ.
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But alongside that weakness came the glory and grace of Christ's
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resurrection power. So this weakness, paradoxically,
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it wasn't a hindrance, it actually became the means
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through which God's strength was most clearly displayed in him.
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It illustrates that truth that God's might is often perfected,
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shown most clearly in our human frailty and connecting back to
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what we discussed earlier about that cultural shift from
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sacrifice towards leadership. Paul absolutely did not chase
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titles or worldly status. He deliberately presented
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himself as a bond slave for Jesus sake.
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Remember, we preach to Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves
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your bond slaves for Jesus sake. This models a profound humility,
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a self giving that isn't interested in being a leader by
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the world standards. Instead, it's about being
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sacrificial, being unconditionally yielded in
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response to Jesus Christ. He wasn't looking for a platform
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to promote himself. He seemed willing to be used or
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laid aside or brought low. Whatever served the gospel best.
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That really pushes against our contemporary emphasis on
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position and recognition. And we know Paul faced just a
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huge variety of hardships. His letters list so many
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different kinds, painting a really vivid picture of what he
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went through. Yes, absolutely.
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His letters, especially that section in 2nd Corinthians 11,
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they read like a catalog of suffering.
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He details beatings, shipwrecks, constant dangers from robbers,
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from his own countrymen, from Gentiles, sleepless nights,
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hunger, thirst, cold exposure. It just shows the tremendous
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variety of suffering that can be part of God's design for his
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faithful followers. It wasn't just one kind of
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trial, but a whole spectrum of difficulties.
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And each one, it seems, sharpened him and proved the
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sufficiency of Christ's grace in his life.
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He talks about being perplexed but not driven to despair,
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persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed.
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That resilience came from Christ.
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It's even suggested, quite compellingly, that Paul's own
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conversion experience was intimately tied to the martyrdom
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of Stephen. Remember Stephen filled with the
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Spirit, bearing the marks of the Lord Jesus, showing incredible
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Christ like grace even as he was dying.
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He embodied that principle. Death is at work in me and life
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is going to be at work in you. And Paul, then known as Saul,
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was right there consenting to Stevens death, holding the
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cloaks of those stoning him. That incredibly powerful display
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of Christ like suffering. Stephen praying for his
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persecutors, his vision of Christ standing ready to receive
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him, that must have planted a seed in Saul's heart.
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This personal connection underlines how suffering Stevens
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death directly brought about life, Paul's conversion and all
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the amazing work that followed. Stevens martyrdom was a powerful
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working model for Paul before he even understood it.
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But it's really crucial to remember this.
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The apostles, Paul included. They didn't recount their
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sufferings to make other believers feel guilty or to
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imply that believers should somehow seek out suffering for
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its own sake. That's not the point at all.
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Instead, they talked about it to encourage fellow crystals to
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point them always back to the faithfulness of Jesus Christ.
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Paul seemed to understand that God had made him this working
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model so that others could see the ways of God with his people
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through his unusually difficult life.
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His example was meant for instruction and inspiration, to
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show the reality of God's grace at work, not for condemnation or
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some kind of cult masochism. OK, so it's not just an Old
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Testament concept, and it's not just confined to the New
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Testament apostles like Paul saying this is a consistent
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pattern we see repeating throughout church history.
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It seems deeply embedded in the very fabric of God's mission
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across time and place. Absolutely.
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The sources argue that from the very beginning, God designed
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things this way. Death would be the way to life,
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and the cross would be the way to victory.
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It's even pointed out how historically, church
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architecture often reflected this truth.
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Many older churches were built in the shape of a cross.
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This symbolized the community's confirmation to the image of
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God's Son. When the believers gathered
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inside, they were, in a visual sense, being squeezed into the
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shape of the cross together. It was a physical representation
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of their shared calling to bear suffering with Christ.
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This historical detail shows how widely recognized this pattern
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was. And yes, this Christ pattern is
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seen repeating constantly in the history of the Christian Church.
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A core truth to hold onto here, as we discussed, is that
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suffering is presented as a grace gift from God.
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And while it's a gift, the specific nature of that
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suffering, the particular trials we face, that's God's choice,
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not ours. We don't get to pick our
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hardships or try to engineer our own spiritual growth through
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self chosen difficulties. So it's not about selecting our
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own preferred form of hardship or, you know, trying to self
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inflict trials thinking will make us more spiritual.
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How do we then differentiate between suffering that seems
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part of God's design for us and suffering that might just be,
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well, the result of our own bad choices or simply living in a
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broken world? That's a really important
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distinction. Of course.
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The world has fallen, and we often face consequences for
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foolish actions. That's true.
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But the suffering we're primarily discussing here, the
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kind presented as a gift and part of this Christ pattern, is
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typically the suffering we encounter specifically for the
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sake of the gospel, or perhaps suffering that comes as a direct
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result of God's refining work in our lives as believers.
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And there's such a huge variety of suffering possible, just like
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there's a variety of spiritual gifts.
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The call isn't to choose a suffering, but to be faithful to
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Jesus Christ in whatever circumstances he sovereignly
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places us. It's about taking up our share
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of suffering, as Paul tells Timothy, like a good soldier of
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Jesus Christ. Whether that looks like overt
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persecution or chronic physical illness or difficult relational
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strains, or maybe just the quiet internal struggles of faith, our
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faithfulness is shown in our obedience within God's chosen
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path for us, not in trying to create our own path.
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It's about yielding to His will, not trying to dictate it.
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And the history of Christian missions just provides striking
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examples of this diversity. Yet the underlying pattern stays
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the same. Consider the story of Princeton
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Seminary students back a couple of 100 years ago, maybe early
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19th century, during a period of intense missionary fervor.
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Historical accounts tell of students who would willingly
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volunteer lining up to take the place of fellow students who had
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died while serving Christ overseas.
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They did this fully knowing the risks, believing it was all
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worth it for the sake of the gospel.
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They grasp the value of that kind of sacrifice, understanding
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that death for Christ wasn't the mission failing, but often a
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catalyst for its further advance.
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Their readiness really echoed the heart of this Christ
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pattern. What are some other compelling
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stories that illustrate this pattern, continuing through
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history, showing its breath across different lives,
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different continents? Well, think of Henry Martin, an
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incredibly brilliant mathematician.
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He was senior Wrangler at Cambridge, basically the top
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math student destined for academic fame.
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But instead he dedicated his life to missionary work in India
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and Persia in the early 1800s. His life was marked by enormous
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personal suffering. He constantly battled
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debilitating sickness, faced intense opposition to the gospel
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message he carried. He also endured deep personal
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heartbreak, including a failed marriage proposal that caused
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him great pain. He died tragically young, just
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31, alone and consumed by fever and tokat Turkey, trying to get
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home. Yet through his meticulous work
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translating the Bible into Persian, Arabic and Hindustani,
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and his tireless preaching, his suffering produced fruit that
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lasted for generations. He brought the Scriptures to
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millions and laid crucial groundwork for future
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evangelism. In those readings he bore a very
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particular kind of burden. But it was suffering for
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Christ's sake, willingly embraced.
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Then there's William Chalmers Burns.
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He was a key figure in powerful revivals in Scotland around the
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mid 19th century, a very successful ministry there.
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But then he felt called elsewhere and essentially buried
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himself in China, as one account puts it.
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He embarked on mission work there, living in extreme poverty
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and during incredibly harsh conditions, ceaseless labor, all
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for the Gospel. He chose to live like the local
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Chinese people, eating their foods, sleeping on their floors,
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believing this was necessary to communicate the sincerity of his
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message. His intense physical deprivation
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and self denial were a clear, tangible form of Christ like
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suffering, and it opened doors for the gospel in inland China,
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allowing him to reach people no Western missionary had
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effectively reached before. Or consider that incredibly
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powerful story of the Cambodian scholar during the horrific
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Khmer Rouge regime, the Killing Fields in the late 1970s.
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This man, a believer, was imprisoned in one of the death
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camps, enduring unspeakable brutality to survive and more
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importantly, to continue to others, he pretended to be
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mentally deranged. This meant he was given the most
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vile, degrading tasks, like cleaning latrines with his bare
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hands, things others wouldn't do.
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But all the while, secretly, he was teaching the gospel from a
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tiny hidden New Testament to fellow prisoners, risking
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instant death every single day. That demonstrates such a
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profound willingness to be a fool for Jesus Christ, embracing
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the lowest place, the utmost hardship.
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It's an incredible example of self denial and spiritual
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courage, living out the Christ pattern in the most desperate
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imaginable circumstances, bringing spiritual life right in
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the midst of literal death. Those are truly remarkable
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stories. They really show the incredible
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scope and variety of how this principle, this pattern plays
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out across time, from public ministry to these hidden,
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desperate acts of witness. And while we might not have the
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ability right now to calculate the exact relationship between
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any one person suffering or a church's collective suffering
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and the resulting fruitfulness, we have the assurance that one
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day we will understand. It echoes those words of Jesus
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to Peter again, doesn't it? What I'm doing?
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You do not understand now, but afterwards you will understand.
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OK, we live by faith in God's wisdom, in his divine economy,
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even when the immediate why is hidden from us.
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We trust that God is always at work, even in our deepest
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trials, working all things for His glory and the good of His
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Kingdom. What a well, what a stirring way
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to look at this, how God uses suffering as the central
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instrument for advancing his Kingdom and for his people's
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fruitfulness. It really does reshape how we
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might view hardship in the Christian life, moving it from
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just something to be avoided at all costs towards something that
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can actually be while embraced as part of God's design.
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It really does. And ultimately what it means for
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us as believers is that being faithful to Christ involves A
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willingness to die to self, to die to our own reputation.
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Our own ambitions were called, as Paul put it, to bear about in
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our bodies, the dying of the Lord Jesus.
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That's really the ultimate expression of discipleship,
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isn't it? Acknowledging that our lives are
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not our own anymore. They belong completely to Him,
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and that leads to a readiness for whatever God might call us
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to endure for His purposes. And that points towards a need
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for complete surrender, not just giving parts of ourselves, but
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an unconditional yielding to God's sovereign will, whatever
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that looks like for each of us. Indeed, the sources we looked at
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close with this really powerful covenant prayer that captures
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that spirit perfectly. It goes, I am no longer my own,
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but yours. Put me to what you will place
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me, with whom you will put me to doing.
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Put me in a suffering. Let me be employed for you, or
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laid aside for You, exalted for you, or brought low for you.
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Let me be full, let me be empty. Let me have all things, let me
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have nothing. I freely and heartily yield all
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things to your pleasure and disposal.
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Wow, that kind of radical, unconditional surrender to God's
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will, embracing both the work and the hardship for his sake.
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That's the ultimate expression of living out this Christ
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pattern. It's a profound thought to
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reflect on, isn't it? To yield everything, trusting
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that God's pleasure and His disposal are always good, always
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wise, and always ultimately for His glory.
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A truly challenging yet deeply encouraging thought to consider
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as we close this deep dive. Thank you for joining us today
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on Reformed Thinking. And may these truths really
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encourage you, the listener, to fix your eyes firmly on Jesus
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Christ, desiring to serve Him more fully, whatever path that
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might involve for you. Until next time.