We Will Suffer

Last Sunday I preached a sermon at our South Campus titled, "Living Like a Child of God." Paul is writing to the church in Rome and tells this group of young believer that they are children of God. They are not children of some statue. They are not worthless people who are an accident. They are not just here on earth for nothing. They are children of God!

We are children of God.

We also are children of God. God has chosen us to be His children. We have been adopted into sonship. God's children are led by God's Spirit. Its a new way of thinking. God is not some distant, far off, uninterested, mean-spirited god who is mad at us. God is our Father; our Heavenly Father who loves His children.

As Paul concludes in Romans 8:17 he says this;

Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

There is an inheritance to be had for God's children. But there is a qualification to receive this inheritance. The qualification is we must suffer with Christ. We know that Christ suffered for us; Peter reminds us of this in his New Testament letter (1 Peter 4:13). There is no prescribed method of suffering for each individual. Each person is going to experience their own suffering as Christ suffered for us. I’m not even going to try to standardize the experience because each of God’s children will experience suffering in their own unique way.

As you walk, live, eat and breathe as a child of God please remember that you will suffer. This week I plan on writing more on some of the suffering I've experienced as a Christ follower.